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The  Apparition  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  to 
St.  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


LIFE  OF 

SAINT  MARGARET 
MARY    ALACOQUE 


BY 
RT.  REV.  E.  BOUGAUD,  D.D. 

Bishop  of  Laval 


Niw  York,  Cincinnati,  Chicago 

BENZIGER  BROTHERS 

PRINTERS  TO  THE       I  PUBLISHERS  Or 

HOLY  APOSTOLIC  SEE  I  BENZIGER'S  MAGAZINE 


X    ^ 


BCANLON,  S.T.D., 


mfNem 





• 


Co  tbe  ftcmovQ 

m 

My   Mother. 

TO  HER  UPON  WHOSE  KNEE,  AS  A  LITTLE  CHILD,  I  LEARNED 
TO    KNOW,    TO   LOVE,  TO   ADORE 

THE 

SflCRED    HEART. 


THREE     MONTHS     BEFORE    HER     DEATH,     JUNE    23,    1373,     ON     MY     RETURN 

FROM    PARAY,   MY  MOTHER    BESOUGHT    ME   TO    RE3UME  THIS  IWflMTll 

PREVIOUSLY    UNDERTAKEN    AT   HER    REQUEST,    THEN   INTERRUPTED 

AGAIN   TAKEN    UP,  AND    ALMOST   FINISHED    IN   THE    MIDST   OF 

THE   FIRST  ANXIETY   CONSEC  -  I    I     .  •    HER    ILLNESS, 

AND  THE   INCONSOLABLE  SORROW  OF 

HER    DEATH. 


TO-DAY 

X  LAY   IT   ON    HER    TOMB    AS    A     LAST    TRIBUTE    OF    HOMAGE 

TO    THE    HEART    OF    THAT    INCOMPARABLE 

TO    WHOM    I    OWE    ALL. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGB 

Dedication 5 

Introduction 9 

CHAPTER 

I.  State   of  the   Church  in  France  at  the   Birth   of 

Saint    Margaret  Mary.     1647 17 

II.  Birth  of     Saint    Margaret   Mary — First  Years — 

Childhood  and  Youth.     1647-1662 34 

III.  Margaret's  Vocation — She   Enters  the  Visitation 

of  Paray.     1662-1671 54 

IV.  The  Convent  of  Paray.     1671 71 

V.  Margaret  Mary's  Novitiate — God  Prepares  her  for 
the  Great  Mission  about  to  be  intrusted  to  her 
— Her  Profession.  May  26,  1671-November  6, 
1672 92 

VI.  Final  Exterior  Preparations — Last  Finishing 
Stroke  within.  November  6,  1672-December 
27,  1673 no 

VII.  The  Aurora  of  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart    126 
VIII.  The  Visitation  Established  to  be  the  Sanctuary  of 

the  Sacred  Heart       142 

IX.  The  Revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart.     1673-1675    16c 
X.  Almighty  God  Prepares  the  Convent  of  Paray  to 
become  the   Sanctuary  of  the    Sacred    Heart. 
1675-1678 180 

XI.  Mother  Greyfie  submits  Margaret's  Extraordinary 
Ways  to  a  New  Examination — Her  Severity  and 
her  Fearlessness — Father  de  la  Colombiere 
Returns  to  Paray — His  Death.     1678-1684      .     .  194 

XII.  The  Saintly  Sister  among  her  Novices — The 
Secret  of  the  Sublime  Revelations  Escapes  her 
in  Spite  of  herself — First  Public   Adoration  of 

the  Sacred  Heart.     1684-1685 220 

7 


8  Contents, 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIII.  The  Apostolate  of  the  Sacred  Heart  Begun — With 

what  Modesty  and  Zeal  Margaret  Mary  begins 
to  Spread  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart.  1686- 
1689 244 

XIV.  The    Last    Grand     Revelation — The    King    and 

France.     1689 263 

XV.  Margaret  Mary's  Mission  Ended — She  is  Con- 
sumed in  the  Flames  of  Divine  Love — Her 
Holy  Death.     1690 274 

XVI.  Devotion   to   the   Heart  of  Jesus  Begins    in   the 

World — Anger  of  Some,  Enthusiasm  of  Others  290 

.KVII.  The  First-fruits  of  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart 
— The  Church  of  France  Vivified  in  the  Rays  of 
the    Sacred     Heart — Beatification    of     Saint 
Margaret  Mary 315 

XVIII.  Unexpected  and  Marvellous  Spread  of  Devotion 
to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  amid  the  Misfortunes  of 
France — The  Second  Part  of  the  Mission  con- 
fided to  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Approaches  its 
Accomplishment.     1870-1874 334 

XIX.  Montmartre — The  Wish  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales 
— The  Visitation  Order  and  Jansenism — The 
Visitandines  as  Reformers  and  Founders — 
The  Visitandines  in  the  Revolution — the  Scapu- 
lar of  the  Sacred  Heart  in  the  Reign  of  Terror 
— The  Guard  of  Honor  of  the  Sacred  Heart — 
The  Consecration  of  the  World  to  the  Sacred 
Heart        356 

XX.  Enthronement  of  the  Sacred  Heart — Some 
American  Associations — The  Words  of  Pope 
Benedict  XV.,  and  the  Decree  of  Canonization 
of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque,  Professed 
Religious  of  the  Order  of  the  Visitation  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary  of  the  diocese  of  Autun  378 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  the  two  volumes  devoted  to  the  telling  of  St.  de 
Chantal's  story  and  the  origin  of  the  Visitation,  I 
thought  I  had  finished  my  task.  But  a  pure,  sweet 
voice  called  me,  that  of  the  first  of  St.  Chantal's  daugh- 
ters raised  to  the  altar,  Saint  Margaret  Mary.  She  it 
was  who  was  chosen  by  God  to  finish  the  work  of  St. 
Francis  de  Sales  and  his  great  co-operatrix.  Both  had 
labored  together  in  the  construction  of  the  edifice. 
They  dug  the  foundations,  drew  the  grand  plans.  But 
the  crown  was  wanting.  It  was  Margaret  Mary,  that 
saintly  and  humble  virgin,  who  was  deputed  to  place  it 
on  its  brow.  In  some  way,  then,  the  Life  of  our  saintly 
Sister  is  a  necessary  sequel  to  the  history  of  St.  Chantal. 
The  biography  of  the  one  illumines  and  perfects  that  of 
the  other. 

But  if  Saint  Margaret  Mary  interests  us  as  the  first 
beatified  daughter  of  the  holy  founders  of  the  Visita- 
tion, we  hesitate  not  to  say  that  she  awakens  our  sym- 
pathy from  still  another  point  of  view.  Hidden  in  the 
depths  of  her  cloister,  in  the  seclusion  of  a  little  town 
far  from  Paris,  she  received  a  first-class  mission.  She 
was  deputed  by  Almighty  God  to  come  to  the  assistance 
of  the  Church  in  the  fulfilment  of  a  work  the  greatest 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  formidable  ever  accom- 
plished in  this  world. 

This  work,  we  well  know,  is  not  to  remain  inactive  in 
the  midst  of  the  instability  of  human  things,  of  dynasties, 
empires,  and  even  whole  nations,  which  shall  sooner  or 
later  crumble  into  dust.  Nor  is  it  to  impose  on  man's 
proud  reason  a  collection  of  dogmas  whose  titles  he  has, 

9 


io  Introduction. 

indeed,  the  right  to  study,  but  which  can  regenerate  him 
only  by  humbling  him.  This  work,  still  more  elevated, 
so  luminous  and  yet  so  obscure,  is  to  persuade  man  tha" 
God  loves  him. 

Yes,  one  day,  from  the  depths  of  His  eternity,  God 
looked  upon  man  ;  and  like  some  great  king,  some 
powerful  genius,  who  falls  a  victim  to  the  charms  of  a 
little  lisping  child,  that  child  his  own,  God  was  capti- 
vated. He  loved  man.  He  loved  him  even  to  passion, 
even  to  folly.  He  loved  him  so  far  as  to  make  Himself 
man,  in  order  to  bridge  those  distances  which,  of  what- 
ever nature  they  may  be,  are  insupportable  to  love. 
God  loved  man  even  to  suffer  and  to  die  for  him. 

Yes,  He  who  hangs  there  on  that  gibbet,  His  hands 
and  feet  pierced,  His  Heart  opened,  is  God  !  And  what 
is  He  doing  there  ?  He  is  suffering,  He  is  dying,  through 
love  ;  yea,  He  is  dying  of  love  ! 

This  is  what  the  Church  is  commissioned  to  teach  to 
man.  This  is  the  price  of  his  regeneration.  Outside 
this  we  find  only  feebleness  of  heart,  shipwreck  of  morals. 
A  man  may  indeed  be  an  honest  man  ;  but  the  folly  of 
sacrifice,  of  virginity,  of  devotedness,  of  martyrdom, 
arises  only  from  faith  in  the  folly  of  the  Cross. 

This  love  of  God  for  man  is  so  great,  so  prodigious, 
that  it  has  become  a  scandal  to  the  world.  It  is  the  old 
and  universal  stumbling-block,  the  final  reason  of  all 
schisms  and  all  unbelief.  If  Arius,  for  example,  sepa- 
rated from  the  Church,  it  was  because  he  could  not  be- 
lieve that  that  Man  who  had  one  day  appeared  in  Judea 
could,  without  certain  equivocal  expressions,  without 
(exaggeration,  be  truly  st3'led  the  Only  Son  of  God. 
There  was  in  such  abasement  a  grandeur  of  love  revolt- 
ing to  the  heresiarch.  Nor  could  Nestorius  admit  that 
the  Eternal  Son  of  God  had  reposed  in  the  womb  of  an 
humble  virgin,  that  he  had  been  nourished  with  her 
milk,  and  that  He  had  called  her  mother  !  Luther  and 
Calvin, — why   did   they  break    anew    the   unity  of   the 


Introduction.  1 1 

Church  ?  Because  they  could  not  believe  either  in  the 
tribunal  of  reconciliation,  that  is,  in  mercy  that  makes 
no  account  of  ingratitude;  or  in  indulgences,  that  is, 
in  one  of  the  most  tender  industries  of  the  Saviour  to 
supply  for  our  ever-recurring  insufficiencies  ;  or  in  the 
Holy  Eucharist,  that  is,  in  His  constant  abiding  with 
those  whom  He  loves.  Narrow  hearts,  which  know  not 
what  it  is  to  love  !  And  if  in  our  day  there  are  so  many 
men  that  pass  before  the  Cross  wagging  their  head,  who 
gaze  at  our  altars  with  a  smile  of  contempt,  it  is  because 
the  folly  of  the  Cross  disgusts  them.  Man's  egotism, 
incapable  of  loving,  sinks  under  the  weight  of  such 
mysteries  ;  and  the  Church  cannot  draw  from  him  this 
cry  that  would  transfigure  him  :  Et  nos  credidimus  cha- 
ritati  quam  habet  Deus  in  nobis:  "  Yes,  we  believe  that  God 
has  love  for  us."  ' 

But  precisely  because  the  work  is  formidable,  because 
the  Church  seems  at  some  moments  to  bend  under  the 
weight,  God  comes  to  her  aid  by  some  master-strokes. 
As,  when  sophists  multiplied,  He  made  a  sign,  and  we 
saw  appear  those  whom  we  shall  call  volunteers,  extra- 
ordinary agents  of  the  truth,  a  St.  Augustine,  a  St. 
Thomas,  a  Bossuet :  in  like  manner,  when  the  world 
grew  cold,  and  God's  love  was  no  longer  credited  ; 
when  we  saw  degenerate  purity,  sacrifice,  apostleship, 
devotedness,  and  martyrdom, — all  those  qualities  that 
derive  their  origin  from  the  heart,  but  from  the  heart 
transfigured  by  divine  love, — God  made  a  sign,  and  we 
saw  arise  those  whom  we  shall  call  volunteers,  the 
extraordinary  agents  of  love.  Thus,  for  example,  when 
Constantine  ascended  the  imperial  throne,  the  early 
persecutions  passed  ;  when  he  extended  over  the  Church 
his  imperial  purple,  he  introduced  with  those  honors, 
though  unknown  to  himself  and  without  willing  it,  the 
seeds  of  lukewarmness.  When  arise  those  cold-hearted 
doctors  whom  we  have  already  cited,  Arius,  Nestorius, 

1  I.  John  iv.  16. 


i  •*  Introduction. 

Eutyches,  whose  doctrine  was  at  best  only  the  denial  of 
infinite  love  ;  when  old  pagan  sensualism  was  slowly 
penetrating  into  the  Church, — at  that  moment  the  earth 
opened,  and  from  her  bosom  came  forth  the  instruments 
of  the  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ :  the  cross  on  which  He 
died,  the  nails  that  pierced  His  feet  and  hands,  the 
crown  that  wounded  His  brow,  the  lance  that  opened 
His  Heart.  The  world  was  providentially  roused  to  new 
life  by  contact  with  those  sacred  trophies  of  the  Passion. 

And  who  was  the  privileged  creature  to  whom  God 
gave  this  great  mission  of  reviving  the  world  in  the 
fourth  century  ?  A  woman — the  pious  Helena,  the 
mother  of  Constantine,  the  imperial  Liberator  of  the 
Church.  It  was  a  woman,  and  we  can  divine  the  cause. 
Ordinarily  inferior  to  man  in  gifts  of  intellect,  woman  is 
his  superior  in  those  of  the  heart.  She  loves  more,  she 
loves  better.  Even  in  thought  she  never  separates  love 
from  sacrifice.  To  love  is  for  her  self-immolation.  It 
was,  then,  a  woman  ;  and,  moreover,  it  was  a  mother. 
That,  too,  we  can  understand. 

Before  the  Cross,  before  the  folly  of  love,  man  may 
sometimes  pass  wagging  his  head  ;  but  the  mother, 
never  !  She  takes  her  child  in  her  arms,  she  raises  her 
eyes  to  the  Cross,  and  she  says  to  herself  :  "  What  is 
there  so  astonishing  in  Jesus  Christ's  dying  for  His 
children  ?     Would  /  not  do  the  same  for  mine  ?" 

It  was,  then,  a  woman,  a  wife,  a  mother,  who,  in  the 
fourth  century,  received  the  mission  to  revivify  the 
world  by  holding  up  to  it  the  Cross  of  Jesus  Christ  ; 
and,  in  fact,  she  succeeded.  The  great  devotion  of  those 
barbarous  nations  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  devotion  to 
the  Cross.  They  even  fought  battles  for  its  restitution 
when  it  had  passed  out  of  their  hands.  The  West  rose 
to  a  man  to  get  possession  of  the  Saviour's  empty  tomb. 
When  arrived  in  Jerusalem,  those  hardy  warriors,  a  God- 
frey de  Bouillon,  a  Tancred,  a  Baldwin,  were  seen  mak- 
ing the  circuit  of  the.  Holy  City,  barefoot  and  shedding 


Introduction.  1 3 

abundant  tears.  Some  of  them  even  expired  of  lo^e 
and  sorrow  when  kissing  the  rocks  of  Calvary.  France 
trembled  one  day  with  the  purest  emotion  that  had 
ever  thrilled  her  soul,  when  St.  Louis  re-entered  his  cap- 
ital, bearing  in  his  royal  hands  the  crown  of  thorns  that 
had  steeped  in  blood  the  brow  of  Jesus  Christ.  During 
five  centuries,  from  St.  Helena  to  St.  Louis,  the  world, 
rewarmed  by  contact  with  the  holy  cross  on  which 
Jesus  Christ  had  died,  could  utter  the  conquering  cry  : 
Yes,  we  believe  in  God's  infinite  love  for  man  I 

But  it  was  not  difficult  for  an  observer  to  see  that  this 
devotion,  owing  to  human  infirmity,  would  soon  be  in- 
sufficient to  support  a  flame  that  had  evidently  begun 
to  flicker.  The  Crusades  became  more  and  more  an  im- 
possibility ;  in  vain  did  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs  urge  the 
Faithful  to  rescue  the  profaned  tomb  of  Jesus  Christ. 
A  symbol  more  touching  than  even  the  Cross  had  become 
a  necessity,  something  that  would  sink  more  deeply  into 
hearts.  Then,  in  the  solitude  of  a  Belgian  convent,  God 
appeared  to  a  privileged  soul,  and  gave  her  the  mission 
to  turn  all  eyes  and  hearts  to  the  Holy  Eucharist,  and  to 
ask  from  the  Church  some  new  manifestations  of  homage 
for  this  august  mystery. 

And  who  was  the  favored  creature  predestined  to 
revive  the  world  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  to  be 
what  we  shall  call  an  extraordinary  agent  of  love  ? 
Again  a  woman,  and  this  time  a  virgin !  However 
pure,  however  clear-sighted  the  heart  of  the  mother, 
there  is  something  more  beautiful,  more  crystalline  still, 
and  that  is  the  heart  of  a  virgin  !  And  besides,  the 
mystery  of  the  Eucharist  being  the  mystery  of  the 
angels,  it  was  fitting  to  reserve  to  virginity  the  honors 
of  that  revelation  and  of  that  apostolate. 

As  nothing  happens  in  the  Church  but  by  the  breath- 
ings of  God's  Spirit,  whilst  the  new  pomps  of  Corpus 
Christi  were  being  displayed,  an  unknown  monk  sent 
forth  the  Book  of  the  "  Imitation"  the   most   beautiful 


14  Introduction, 

pages  that  have  ever  fallen  from  the  pen  of  man,  espe- 
cially Book  IV.,  so  calculated  to  inflame  hearts  with  love 
for  the  Holy  Eucharist.  At  the  same  time  St.  Thomas 
composed  his  incomparable  hymns,  "  Lauda  Sio?i%  and 
"  Adoro  Te  Supplex."  Then  Gothic  cathedrals  rose  as  if 
to  be  triumphal  arches  in  honor  of  the  Holy  Eucharist. 
From  their  hallowed  precincts  came  solemnly  forth 
those  beautiful  processions  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  of 
which  we  know  ;  and  the  world,  reanimated  and  trans- 
formed by  the  warmth  of  the  devotion,  began  its  march 
anew,  the  cry  of  victory  upon  its  lips  :  We  believe  in 
God's  infinite  love  for  us. 

Three  centuries  rolled  by !  Suddenly  there  sweeps 
over  the  Church  a  current  icy  cold,  freezing.  Luther 
appeared,  and  denied  infinite  love  in  its  most  tender 
manifestations.  Calvin  followed,  and  suppressed  the 
Eucharist.  Jansenius  arose,  and,  though  not  denying 
the  Holy  Eucharist,  taught  the  Faithful  to  abstain  from 
it  with  the  most  profound  respect.  Books  on,  or,  as  we 
should  say,  against,  frequent  Communion  were  written, 
and  treasures  of  learning  were  called  into  play,  in  order 
to  teach  the  Faithful  that  Jesus  Christ  established  the 
Divine  Sacrament  that  they  might  receive  it  as  seldom 
as  possible.  Faith  in  infinite  love  grew  weak  through- 
out the  world  ;  coldness  was  everywhere  felt. 

O  my  God,  my  God  !  what  art  Thou  now  going  to 
do  ?  By  what  ingenious  device  art  Thou  going  to  re- 
animate souls  ?  What  secret  remedy  hast  Thou  in  re- 
serve for  times  so  sad  ?  And  to  what  privileged  soul 
art  Thou  now  going  to  confide  it? 

To  reanimate  faith  and  piety,  God  again  chose  a 
woman,  a  virgin.  Evidently,  He  wished  to  make  none 
other  the  extraordinary  agent  of  His  love  ! 

With  divine  art  He  prepared  the  chosen  virgin  for 
her  mission.  When  her  heart  had  become  like  that  of 
an  angel ;  when  one  night  she  was  plunged  in  ecstasy, 
immovable,  recollected,  her  arms  crossed  on  her  breast, 


Introduction.  1 5 

her  face  strangely  lighted,  all  aglow  with  interior  fire, 
a  celestial  radiance,  visible  to  her  alone,  arose  above  the 
altar.  In  it  she  perceived,  as  she  tremblingly  glanced 
through  the  grate,  the  adorable  person  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ !  When,  at  last,  she  ventured  to  fix  upon  Him 
her  eyes  moist  with  tears,  she  saw  the  Saviour's  breast 
resplendent,  and  His  Heart  sparkling  like  a  sun  in  the 
midst  of  flames.  And  hark,  a  voice  addressed  her  :  "  Be- 
hold the  Heart  that  has  so  loved  men,  even  to  consume  itself 
for  them  /"  Several  times  were  these  visions  repeated, 
and  in  them  were  the  adorable  designs  of  God  revealed 
to  her.  She  saw  the  wounds  of  society  healed  by  de- 
grees through  contact  with  this  Divine  Heart  ;  and  the 
Church,  rewarmed,  reanimated  by  the  rays  of  this  fur- 
nace of  love,  resume  her  triumphant,  benevolent  march 
through  the  world. 

To  add  one  more  charm  to  this  devotion,  that  is  for 
the  French  heart,  God  gave  it  to  His  Church  by  the 
hands  of  France.  It  was  to  a  French  religious,  mem- 
ber of  a  French  Order,  in  a  town  of  France,  that  He 
made  known  what  He  wished  her  to  promulgate  to  the 
universal  Church.  And  not  only  is  it  to  France  that 
the  revelation  is  made,  it  is  made  for  France.  So  well 
does  it  correspond  on  the  one  hand  to  her  most  noble 
aspirations,  her  most  elevated  sentiments  ;  so  sweetly 
and  efficaciously  does  it  touch  on  the  other  her  saddest 
wounds,  that  it  is  evident  God  thought  of  France  in 
giving  to  the  world  the  grand  revelation  of  the  Sacred 
Heart.  Yes,  He  not  only  thought,  He  expressed  His 
thought  in  words  ;  He  announced  it  with  a  precision 
truly  miraculous.  In  fact,  in  proportion  as  France 
plunged  into  the  Sacred  Heart,  has  she  been  regen- 
erated. 

Behold  of  what  we  shall  treat  in  the  following  pages, 
though  for  it  we  should  borrow  the  tongues  of  angels  or 
of  saints.  We  shall,  however,  try  what  we  can  do  ;  for 
.not  to  try  would  be  in  us  the  blackest  ingratitude. 


1 6  Introduction, 

Before  beginning,  we  shall,  however,  premise  one  ob- 
servation. Just  as  we  might  say  to  a  youth  about  en- 
tering upon  the  study  of  mathematics,  "  This  book 
treats  of  infinitesimal  calculus.  Do  not  open  it,  for  you 
will  understand  nothing  in  it :"  in  like  manner,  if  any 
one  believes  not  in  the  infinite  love  of  God  for  man  dis« 
played  from  His  crib  to  His  cross,  and  still  shown  in 
the  Holy  Eucharist,  let  him  not  open  this  book  !  Should 
he  do  so,  he  will  be  amazed  and  scandalized.  I  am 
going  to  recount  the  strangest  things,  facts  the  most 
extraordinary,  the  most  inconceivable,  and  yet  the  most 
certain,  as  well  as  the  most  touching  :  a  God  loving 
man  to  folly,  yes,  even  to  passion  !  This  God,  forgot- 
ten, despised,  betrayed,  ignored  by  man,  has  not  de- 
spaired of  man.  Instead  of  punishing  him,  of  crushing 
him,  as  He  might  have  done,  He  resolved  to  conquer 
him  by  force  of  love.  And  this  is  the  story  that  I  am 
now  going  to  tell. 

O  Jesus,  from  my  mother's  arms  to  the 'ardent  years 
of  my  youth,  I  never  ceased  to  believe  in  that  infinite 
love  which  is  the  sap,  the  divine  sustenance,  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  now,  at  the  age  that  brings  to  man  experi- 
ence of  the  world,  and,  if  he  has  been  faithful,  opens  to 
him  the  splendors  of  heaven,  I  feel  that  same  infinite 
love  shining  on  my  head  with  undimmed  brilliancy.  It 
is  true  to  say,  I  now  scarcely  believe  in  man's  love,  for 
I  believe  much  more  in  God's  love  !  Help  me,  then,  O 
Christ,  O  Saviour,  O  Friend,  and  may  these  my  last 
words,  if  they  are  to  be  my  last,  bear  to  the  very  depths 
of  souls  the  knowledge  of  that  love  whose  charm  I 
have  tasted,  but  of  whose  sweetness  I  shall  never  be 
able  to  speak  ! 

Orleans,  May  24,  1874. 


LIFE  OF 

Saint  Margaret  Mary  alacoque. 


CHAPTER  I. 

STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH    IN  FRANCE  AT  THE  BIRTH 
OF  SAINT  MARGARET  MARY. 

1647. 

"  Mane  nobiscum,  Doraine,  quoniam  advesperascit,  et  inclinata 
est  jam  dies." 

"  Stay  with  us,  O  Lord,  because  it  is  towards  evening,  and  the  day 
is  now  far  spent." — St.  Luke  xxiv.  29. 

JjTLN  1647,  the  year  in  which  Margaret  Mary  was  born 
,31f  at  Verosvres,  a  small  Burgundian  village  seven 
leagues  from  Paray,  Catholic  France  had  just 
achieved  a  great  victory.  The  latter  part  of  the  six- 
teenth century  had  been  spent  in  expelling  schism  and 
heresy  from  her  bosom.  Freed  from  the  bad  leaven, 
she  flourished  in  the  seventeenth. 

Joy  was  great  in  Christian  homes;  for  never,  perhaps, 
had  France  known  so  fearful  a  danger.  With  its  doc- 
trine of  reason's  absolute  independence,  its  contempt  of 
authority,  and  its  hatred  of  ecclesiastical  rule,  Protes- 
tantism was  calculated  to  please  a  nation  in  love  with 
equality,  naturally  rebellious,  and  quickly  wearied  of 
that  authority  of  which  it  had  so  much  need.  On  the 
other  hand,  enervated  and  corrupted  under  the  frivolous 
reigns  of  Francis  I.,  Henry  II.,  Charles  IX.,  and  Henry 
III.,  she  was  only  too  well  prepared  by  her  depraved 
morality  to  curtail  her  ancient  doctrines.  She  hesitaced 
a  moment;  and  heresy,  which  had  seduced  a  part  of  the 
high  nobility,  mounted  the  steps  of  the  throne.     It  was 

17 


\  8   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

>ne  of  those  solemn  hours  that  decide  the  future  of  a 
tvorld.  Let  us  suppose  that,  after  the  defection  of  all 
England,  of  a  part  of  Germany,  Prussia,  Sweden,  Nor- 
way, and  Switzerland,  France,  too,  had  proved  recreant: 
humanly  speaking,  the  Catholic  Church  in  Europe 
would  have  succumbed. 

Happily,  if  under  certain  forms  Protestantism  exer- 
cised a  charm  over  France,  under  others  it  inspired  in. 
vincible  repugnance.  France  is  a  thoroughly  religious 
nation,  though  led  rather  by  the  heart  than  the  head. 
Into  religion,  as  into  all  things  else,  she  carries  her 
ardent  and  lively  nature,  her  love  of  being  led  rather  than 
convinced;  and  in  the  love  she  bestows  she  conceives  no 
limit  other  than  that  which  she  exacts.  In  this  respect, 
Protestantism  was  radically  incapable  of  satisfying 
France. 

Protestantism  is  not  a  spontaneous  growth.  It  only 
ingrafted  itself  on  the  old  trunk  of  the  Gospel  as  a  so- 
called  development  and  improvement.  It  established 
itself  in  a  manner  entirely  contradictory;  that  is,  by 
lopping  off,  by  retrenching.  Now,  what  it  suppressed 
was  precisely  that  which  had  charms  for  France,  that 
which  had,  from  the  first,  so  completely,  so  lastingly, 
attached  her  to  the  Catholic  faith. 

The  first  dogma  of  Protestantism,  or  rather  its  first 
curtailment,  was  that  Jesus  Christ  did  not  become  in- 
carnate for  all  men  ;  He  suffered  and  died  only  for 
some;  His  Heart  is  not  large  enough  to  embrace  all 
humanity. 

The  second  dogma  of  Protestantism  is  that,  even  in 
this  narrow  circle  of  the  predestined,  the  mercy  of  Jesus 
Christ  has  limits.  It  does  not  pardon  sins,  it  does  not 
remit  debts.  One  cannot  weep  at  His  feet  the  misfor- 
tune of  having  offended  Him,  nor  rise  up,  his  eyes 
glistening  with  tears,  in  the  assurance  that  the  love  of 
Jesus  has  consumed  all,  purified  all,  forgotten  all. 

The  third   dogma  of  Protestantism  is  that  the  Lord 


State  of  the  Church  in  France  at  her  Birth.    1 9 

Joes  not  remain  among  us  in  the  Holy  Eucharist.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Lutheran  doctrine,  He  passes  like  a  flash 
of  lightning;  whilst  the  Calvinists  teach  that  He  is  not 
present  at  all.  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other  believes 
God  sufficiently  loving  "  to  make  it  His  delight  to  be 
with  the  children  of  men."  ' 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  faith  and  in  relation  to  God, 
Protestantism  is  only  a  half-gift,  a  half-love.  Hence, 
how  could  it  captivate  a  nation  in  which  the  heart  pre- 
dominates; a  nation  moved  more  by  feeling  (with  which 
in  vivacity  none  other  can  compare)  than  by  principle  ? 
France,  believing  or  infidel,  virtuous  or  depraved,  is 
never  anything  by  halves.  She  is,  according  to  the 
love  that  sways  her,  always  in  the  extreme  of  good  or 
evil. 

The  consequences  of  Protestantism  are,besides,worthy 
of  its  principles.  When  Protestants  admit  in  God  only 
a  half-love,  how  require  of  man  a  whole  love  ?  Thus, 
scarcely  had  Luther  and  Calvin  formulated  their  doc- 
trine, than  one  sees  the  spirit  of  heroic  self-sacrifice 
die  out  like  a  wind  suddenly  lulled.  Holy  enthusiasm 
is  extinguished  ;  no  more  consecrated  vestals  and 
apostles;  souls  that  despise  all  for  God  are  no  longer 
to  be  found.  To  the  rapture  that  produced  wonders 
succeeds  the  morality  that  is  limited  to  the  avoidance  of 
faults.  Soon  it  was  necessary  to  mask  this  sterility. 
That  to  which  these  innovators  could  no  longer  attain 
was  despised;  the  religious  state  was  suppressed,  pen- 
ance abolished.  Fearing  lest  man  should  surpass  God 
in  proofs  of  love,  those  proofs  are  forbidden  him. 

This  was  the  finishing  stroke  of  Protestantism  in 
France.  What  !  no  more  religious  ?  Can  we  no 
longer  give  apostles  to  God?  We  are  forbidden  volun- 
tary sacrifice,  the  outward  expression  of  love's  passion 
Ind  folly  !  What  !  shall  we  have  no  more  tabernacles 
ha  our   churches  ?     Shall  the  living  Christ   go   forth  ? 

1  Prov.  viii.  31. 


20  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Shall  we  have  of  Him  but  a  shadowy  remembrance  as 
of  one  belonging  to  far-off  ages  ?  France  felt  to  the 
core  the  stroke  aimed  at  her  deepest  religious  interests, 
and  she  rejected  Protestantism  as  one  would  a  restless, 
troubled  dream. 

Other  reasons,  political  and  national,  were  added  to 
these.  Owing  to  circumstances  in  which  it  is  permitted 
us  to  see  the  hand  of  God,  France  was  the  first-born  of 
Catholic  nations;  and  in  consequence  of  circumstances 
still  more  marvellous,  she  found  herself  from  her  crib 
endowed  with  a  genius  so  like  that  of  the  Church  that, 
from  the  very  first,  their  union  was  perfect.  Time, 
which  destroys  all  that  is  artificial,  has  only  developed 
and  confirmed  this  harmony.  All  the  grand  enterprises 
of  France  have  had  a  religious  as  well  as  a  national 
character.  Her  greatest  men,  Clovis,  Charlemagne,  St. 
Louis,  have  had  a  double  aureola  on  their  brow.  They 
are  as  celebrated  in  the  history  of  the  Church  as  in  that 
of  France.  The  only  hours  in  which  our  prosperity 
appeared  for  a  moment  to  decline,  were  those  in  which 
we  seemed  desirous  of  separation  from  God.  Our  glori- 
ous epochs,  on  the  contrary,  are  contemporary  with  our 
greatest  services  rendered  the  Church.  So  true  is  this, 
that  the  idea  now  possesses  all  minds  that  we  are  a  priv- 
ileged race,  a  sort  of  royal  priesthood,  charged  to  pro- 
tect and  defend  truth,  justice,  and  virtue,  and  gain  for 
them  the  world's  respect.  Protestantism  would  drag 
us  down  from  our  unique  rank.  This  mission  that  we 
believe  to  have  received  at  Tolbiac;  this  title  of  Eldest 
Sons  of  the  Church,  gratefully  decreed  us  by  the 
Papacy;  this  distinctive  feature  of  a  nation  the  most 
Catholic,  the  freest,  the  most  devoted,  and  the  most  in- 
dependent,  in  which  we  find  soldiers,  apostles,  Sisters  ot 
Charity;  in  fine,  the  watch  we  have  kept  as  sentinels  for 
twelve  long  centuries  at  the  door  of  Rome, — must  we 
renounce?  Must  we  sheathe  Charlemagne's  trusty 
sword?     France  shuddered  at   the  thought;  and,  with 


State  of  the  Church  in  France  at  her  Birth.  21 

characteristic  ardor,  turned  once  more  to  the  old  religion 
of  her  fathers  ! 

I  do  not  think  history  records  a  more  acute,  a  more 
general  emotion  than  that  which  seized  upon  France  in 
1589,  at  the  death  of  Henry  III.  He  had  no  children, 
and  his  only  heir  was  a  Huguenot.  We  have  had  in 
our  hands  a  number  of  manuscripts  of  the  sixteenth 
century:  deliberations  of  parliament,  municipal  acts, 
private  papers  never  intended  for  publicity;  and  we 
should  never  be  able  to  recount  the  expressions  of  con- 
sternation therein  recorded  at  the  thought  of  an  heret- 
ical king.  The  ardent  emotion  that  then  burst  forth 
was  subdued  by  the  cool  determination  to  suffer  every- 
thing rather  than  accept  him.  What  happened  in  Paris 
at  the  announcement  of  Henry  III.'s  death  was  renewed 
throughout  France.  "  In  place  of  the  acclamations  of 
1  Vive  le  rot!'  usual  on  such  occasions,  hats  were  slouched 
over  eyes  by  some,  or  thrown  to  the  ground  by 
others;  whilst  others  again,  unwilling  to  have  a  Hugue- 
not king,  clinched  their  fists,  or  grasped  hands  in 
pledge  of  their  vow:  Rather  death  a  thousand  times!"  ' 

Then  began  those  public  prayers,  those  solemn  pil- 
grimages; those  processions,  too  noisy,  if  you  will,  but 
so  expressive  and,  on  the  part  of  the  people,  so  sincere; 
in  fine,  all  those  manifestations  that,  far  better  than  the 
League,  made  Henry  IV.  understand  how  true  were  the 
dying  words  of  Henry  III.:  "Cousin,  you  will  never  be 
king  of  France  if  you  do  not  become  a  Catholic."  The 
sincerity  of  the  conversion  of  Henry  IV.  has  been  ques- 
tioned. But  were  it  even  true,  which  we  do  not  believe, 
that  he  yielded  to  human  views  in  the  accomplishment 
of  that  great  act,  what  better  proof  could  we  wish  of 
the  depth  and  invincible  force  of  the  religious  current 
that  then  bore  France  along  ? 

Two-and-twenty  years  of  the  most  reparative  of  reigns 
had  passed,  when  France,  after  the  unlcoked-for  good 
1  Histoire  universelle  de  d'Aubign6,  t.  iii.  liv   \l  ch.  xxii. 


22   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

fortune  of  finding  so  great  a  man  in  the  midst  of  such 
a  storm,  saw  him  fall  under  the  implacable  dagger  of 
the  malcontents.  A  new  cry  of  anguish  escaped  her 
lips,  and  she  foifi  for  the  second  time  that  she  was  about 
to  be  ingulfeJ,  that  she  had  no  longer  any  hope  but  in 
God.  Men's  passions  were  but  lightly  slumbering,  and 
\here  were  no  barriers  to  restrain  them.  The  hostile 
parties  were  so  irreconcilable  that  the  hand  of  Richelieu 
fcould  with  difficulty  subdue  them,  and  so  unpatriotic 
\hat  they  were  ever  ready  to  call  in  foreign  aid.  The 
powerful  house  of  Austria  surrounded  France  with  a 
band  of  iron,  menacing  at  the  time  her  frontiers;  and 
when,  after  a  stormy  minority,  Louis  XIII.  reached  man- 
hood, by  one  of  those  strokes  in  which  Richelieu's  policy 
was  revealed,  he  married  Anne  of  Austria.  This  was  a 
brilliant  but  sterile  union.  No  children — hence,  no  fu- 
ture! France,  full  of  alarm,  again  asked  herself,  in  the 
event  of  the  king's  death,  into  whose  hands  the  most 
Christian  kingdom  was  to  fall.  Prayers  were  offered,  pil- 
grimages revived.  The  king  and  the  queen  implored  the 
intercession  of  the  most  saintly  persons — the  venerable 
Mother  de  Chantal,  Blessed  Mary  of  the  Incarnation, 
the  humble  Sister  Margaret  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  M. 
Olier,  cur6  of  St.  Sulpice,  and  a  host  of  others — that  God 
would  be  pleased  to  send  an  heir  to  the  race  of  St. 
Louis.  Finally,  as  individual  prayers  did  not  suffice  to 
avert  perils  so  great,  King  Louis  XIII.  descended  from 
his  throne,  went  to  Notre  Dame,  and  there  solemnly 
consecrated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  his  person  and  his 
kingdom.  All  France  ioined  enthusiastically  in  this 
consecration. 

Contemporaries  have  left  us  long  and  curious  details 
of  that  solemn  action;  painters  and  engravers  have  rep- 
resented it  in  a  thousand  ways.  But  what  is  most  im- 
portant to  note  is  its  astonishing  result.  The  self-same 
year  in  which  France  was  consecrated  to  Mary,  1637, 
the  child  was  born  who  was  to  be   called   Louis  XIV., 


State  of  the  Church  in  France  at  her  Birth.  23 

and  who  was  to  reign  for  two-and-seventy  years  of  the 
most  eventful  epoch  of  our  history.  Six  years  later,  in 
1643,  a  young  captain,  like  Clovis  of  old,  received  on 
the  battle-field  one  of  those  sudden  lights  that  change 
the  face  of  the  world.  Rocroy,  realizing  at  last  the 
dream  so  patiently  pursued  by  Henry  IV.,  Louis  XIII., 
and  Richelieu,  snatched  from  Austria  the  preponder- 
ance of  European  power,  and  transferred  it  to  France. 
At  the  same  time  was  seen  arise  a  phalanx  of  geniuses: 
statesmen,  warriors,  orators,  poets,  and  first-class  prose 
writers,  a  single  one  of  whom  would  suffice  for  the 
glory  of  an  age.  Their  numbers  were  so  great,  their 
variety  so  rich,  that  no  nation,  not  even  Greece  in  her 
palmiest  days,  could  offer  anything  comparable  to  it. 
To  this  powerful  sixteenth  century,  so  agitated,  so 
troubled,  so  devoured  by  detestable  passions,  in  which 
grand  national  unity,  as  well  as  national  grandeur,  was 
at  every  hour  jeopardized,  succeeded  that  calm  and 
magnificent  period  which  saw  France  become  the  envy 
and  admiration  of  the  world;  that  period  in  which 
Bossuet  spoke,  Pascal  thought,  Fenelon  wrote,  Corneille 
and  Racine  sang,  Fontaine  smiled.  Every  year  pro- 
duced a  masterpiece.  Enthusiastic  France  looked  on 
in  rapturous  surprise  and  amazement.  She  produced 
for  herself  and  the  world  a  spectacle  of  the  most  mag- 
nificent intellectual  development,  moral  and  religious, 
that  the  world  had  yet  witnessed.  This  was  the  result 
of  the  vow  of  Louis  XIII.,  the  smile  of  the  Mother  of 
God  on  the  people  consecrated  to  her  honor. 

But  gifts,  even  the  rarest,  do  not  dispense  a  people 
from  energetically  rejecting  the  last  dregs  of  poison, 
nor  from  vigilance  against  relapses  into  error.  Whilst 
Europe  contemplated  with  astonishment  this  nation,  at 
orfe  time  fallen  so  low  and  agitated  by  convulsions  so 
terrible,  then  raised  so  suddenly  to  the  pinnacle  of 
greatness,  the  year  1675  saw  her  visibly  decline,  and  suc- 
ceeding years  beheld  her  prosperity  gradually  diminish. 


24  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Like  the  patriarch  who,  after  wrestling  all  night  with 
the  angel,  rose  up  in  the  morning  victorious  though 
wounded;  so  France,  from  her  fearful  contest  against 
Protestantism,  rose  indeed,  but  not  without  marks  of 
her  struggle. 

The  violent  attacks  of  Protestantism  against  the  Pa- 
pacy, its  calumnies  so  manifest,  the  odious  caricatures  it 
scattered  abroad,  had  undoubtedly  inspired  France 
with  horror;  nevertheless  the  sad  impression  remained. 
In  such  accusations  all,  perhaps,  was  not  false.  Mis- 
trust was  excited,  and,  instead  of  drawing  closer  to  the 
insulted  and  outraged  Papacy,  France  stood  on  her 
guard  against  it.  In  vain  did  Fenelon,  who  felt  the  dan- 
ger, write  his  treatise  on  the  "  Power  of  the  Pope,"  and,  to 
remind  France  of  her  sublime  mission  and  true  role  in 
the  world,  compose  his  "  History  of  Charlemagne."  '  In 
vain  did  Bossuet  majestically  rise  in  the  midst  of  that 
agitated  assembly  of  1682,  convened  to  dictate  laws  to 
the  Holy  See,  and  there,  in  most  touching  accents,  give 
vent  to  professions  of  fidelity  and  devotedness  toward  the 
Chair  of  St.  Peter.  We  already  notice  in  his  discourse 
mention  no  longer  made  of  the  "  Sovereign  Pontiff." 
The  "  Holy  See,"  the  "  Chair  of  St.  Peter,"  the  "  Roman 
Church,"  were  alone  alluded  to.  First  and,  alas!  too 
manifest  signs  of  coldness  in  the  eyes  of  him  who  knew 
the  nature  and  character  of  France!  Others  might 
obey  through  duty,  might  allow  themselves  to  be  gov- 
erned by  principle — France,  never!  She  must  be  ruled 
by  an  individual,  she  must  love  him  that  governs  her, 
else  she  can  never  obey. 

These  weaknesses  should  at  least  have  been  hidden 
in  the  shadow  of  the  sanctuary,  to  await  the  time  in 
which  some  sincere  and  honest  solution  of  the  misun- 
derstanding could  be  given.  But  no!  parliaments  took 
hold  of  it,  national  vanity  identified  itself  with  it.  A 
strange  spectacle  was  now  seen.  A  people  the  most 
1  This  history  is,  unfortunately,  lost. 


State  of  the  Church  in  France  at  her  Birth.   25 

Catholic  in  the  world;  kings  who  called  themselves  the 
Eldest  Sons  of  the  Church  and  who  were  really  such  at 
heart;  grave  and  profoundly  Christian  magistrates, 
bishops,  and  priests,  though  in  the  depths  of  their  heart 
attached  to  Catholic  unity, — all  busied  in  barricading 
themselves  against  the  head  of  the  Church;  all  dig- 
ging trenches  and  building  ramparts,  that  His  words 
might  not  reach  the  Faithful  before  being  handled  and 
examined,  and  the  laics  convinced  that  they  contained 
nothing  false,  hostile,  or  dangerous. 

God  keep  me  from  saying  any  harm  of  the  old  French 
Church  !  We  have  not  forgotten  that,  only  a  century 
before,  the  bishops  of  England  apostatized  at  the  com- 
mand of  Henry  VITI.  ;  whilst,  in  1793,  even  after  the 
enervating  effects  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  French 
bishops  and  priests  ascended  the  scaffold,  or  went  into 
exile,  rather  than  separate  from  Catholic  unity.  It  is 
not  less  true  that  the  Church  of  France  at  that  period 
was  no  longer  closely  united  with  the  Pope.  That 
great  luminary  of  the  Church,  as  St.  Francis  de  Sales 
calls  His  Holiness,  met  in  France  too  much  that  was 
opposed  to  the  benign  influence  of  its  rays  ;  conse- 
quently there  resulted  a  diminution  of  life-giving 
warmth,  of  sap,  and  of  fecundity.  This  was  the  first 
wound  dealt  us  by  Protestantism,  and  from  it  the 
Church  of  France  bled  for  two  centuries. 

There  was  at  the  same  time  a  second,  perhaps  a  more 
dangerous,  wound.  The  blasphemies  uttered  by  Prot- 
estants against  the  Blessed  Sacrament  could  not  be 
heard  without  a  thrill  of  horror.  Was  there  not,  how- 
ever, some  truth  in  what  the  reformers  said?  Was  it 
not  the  light  and  irreverent  conduct  of  Catholics  toward 
the  Holy  Eucharist  that  gave  rise  to  those  blasphemies? 
Would  it  not  be  better  to  abstain  from  holy  Commun- 
ion, or  henceforth  to  make  use  of  it  with  more  reserve  ? 
Vainly  did  Fenelon,  whose  intuitive  perception  told 
him  all,  write  his  famous  letter  on  "  Frequent  Commun- 


26   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

ion."  Vainly  did  Bossuet  pour  out  his  great  soul  in  hi& 
admirable  "  Meditations  on  the  Discourse  after  the  Last 
Supper."  Naught  availed.  Arnauld's  book  on  "  Fre- 
quent Communion,"  or  rather  against  it,  received  uni- 
versal approbation,  and  began  to  direct  the  conscience 
of  many. 

Such  writers  did  unquestionably  reject  with  fear  th* 
blind  predestination  of  Protestantism  ;  but  under  the 
pretext  of  a  reaction  against  the  softness  of  Catholic 
morals,  they  led  souls  to  despair.  Massillon  uncon* 
sciously  headed  the  crusade  against  the  mercy  of  God 
by  his  famous  discourse  on  the  small  number  of  the  elect ; 
and  Pascal  followed  with  his  biting  irony  on  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  guilty  only  of  the  crime  of  maintaining  and 
defending  the  goodness,  tenderness,  and  mercy  of  God 
in  His  relations  toward  sinners. 

All  these  tendencies  were  floating,  so  to  say,  in  the 
air,  vague  and  undecided,  when  Jansenism  appeared, 
seized  upon  them,  and  reduced  them  to  definitive  shape. 
Jansenism  is  the  most  astonishing  heresy  that  has 
afflicted  the  Church.  Its  doctrine  is,  after  all,  only  a 
shameful  form  of  Protestantism,  for  their  fundamental 
principle  is  the  same.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  a  God 
whose  love  is  half-hearted  ;  who  came  upon  earth,  but 
who  had  not  the  heart  to  die  for  all  men  ;  who  dwells, 
it  is  true,  in  the  Holy  Eucharist,  though  one  does  not 
precisely  know  why,  for  He  wishes  that  we  receive  Him 
therein  as  seldom  as  possible  ;  who  has  established  the 
tribunal  of  mercy  and  pardon,  but  has  hedged  it  round 
with  such  conditions  as  to  render  it  unapproachable. 

In  order  to  get  a  hold  on  the  mind  of  the  people  and 
make  these  ideas  familiar  to  them,  Jansenism  concealed 
che  beautiful  crucifixes  of  Christian  ages,  on  which  the 
Saviour  is  represented  with  arms  widely  extended  to 
embrace  all  mankind,  and  eyes  tenderly  lowered  to  the 
earth  to  attract  all  souls  to  Himself.  They  replaced 
them  by  the  hideous  little  images  still  found  in  some 


State  of  the  Church  in  France  at  her  Birth.   2  7 

houses,  poverty-stricken  and  ugly,  the  hands  of  the 
Saviour  fastened  perpendicularly  above  His  head,  to  en- 
close within  them  as  few  souls  as  possible,  and  His  eyes 
so  raised  toward  heaven  as  no  longer  to  behold  the  earth. 
Instead  of  these  words,  so  sweet  to  faith,  engraven  above 
tabernacles  in  which  the  God  of  love  resides  :  Qiiait* 
dilecta  tabernacula  tua  Do  mine  •  ("  How  lovely  are  Thy 
tabernacles,  O  Lord  of  hosts  !" ')  they  substituted  suclf 
words  as  these  :  "  Keep  my  Sabbaths,  and  reverence  mj 
sanctuary.  I  am  the  Lord."  2  Jansenius  wrote  treatises 
on  frequent  Communion,  that  is  to  say,  against  it  ;  and 
he  made  lavish  use  of  his  erudition  to  teach  the  Faith- 
ful to  absent  themselves  from  it  as  much  as  possible. 
Toward  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  this  serpent-like  heresy 
pursued  the  same  policy.  It  did  not  deny  His  power,  as 
do  Protestants,  but  it  worked  with  incredible  skill.  It 
knew  how  to  do  without  Him,  and  even  to  disobey  Hirr. 
with  profound  respect.  That  is  to  say,  wherever  Prot- 
estantism denied,  Jansenism  was  hypocritical.  Both 
aimed,  though  by  different  means,  at  the  same  result, 
namely,  the  diminution  of  divine  love  in  souls. 

There  was  no  hope  of  escaping  such  dangers  except 
by  an  energetic  reaction  of  faith  and  piety.    The  infinite 
?ove  of  God   should   have   been   boldly  affirmed  ;  souls 
should  have  been  urged  to  approach   the  holy  table,  to 
frequent  Communion  ;  they  should  have  been  cast  into 
the  arms  of   the   Sovereign   Pontiff,  as   children   more 
obedient,  more  tenderly  aevotea,  than  ever.     But   this 
was  not   the   case.      Some   allowed    themselves   to   be 
Tightened    by   simulated    austerity,    and    others    were 
seduced  by  these  grand  words  :  "  Return   to  the  disci- 
pline of  the  primitive  Church."     Sentinels  did  not  per- 
oral their  duty,  some  were  traitors  ;  and  little  by  little 
Jansenism  penetrated  everywhere,  not  as  a  doctrine  in 
which  souls  believed,  but  as  an  influence  to  which  they 
yielded.      The    most    fervent    communities,    the    most 
austere  cloisters,  were   not    preserved    from    it.     They 
1  Ps.  lxxxiii.  1.  8  Lcvit.  xxvi.  2. 


28    Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

inhaled  it,  almost  unsuspectingly,  like  those  subtle  poi- 
sons floating  in  the  air,  which  bear  with  them  death 
sometimes,  disease  always. 

From  these  combined  influences  there  resulted  in 
France,  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  dur- 
ing the  whole  of  the  eighteenth,  a  corruption  of  the  true 
spirit  of  the  Gospel,  a  kind  of  semi-Christianity,  com- 
monplace and  cold,  utterly  incapable  of  captivating 
souls.  The  conquering  charm  of  Christianity,  the  prin- 
ciple of  its  eternal  fruitfulness,  is  the  dogma  of  God's 
infinite  love  for  man,  that  grand  doctrine,  at  once  so 
full  of  mystery  and  yet  so  luminous,  of  a  God  who 
loves  man  unto  passion.  In  the  same  measure  as  one 
approaches  it,  whether  entirely  to  deny  or  merely  to 
diminish  this  infinite  love,  one  sees  die  out  or  sensibly 
decrease  that  sublime  inebriation  which  makes  virgins, 
apostles,  and  martyrs,  that  folly  of  man  responding  to 
the  folly  of  God.  The  world  had  had  a  first  example  in 
the  absolute  sterility  of  Protestantism  ;  and  France  was 
about  to  offer  a  second,  which,  though  less  perfect,  was 
none  the  less  striking  ;  since,  without  absolutely  denying 
infinite  love,  it  was  content  with  an  unintelligible  concep- 
tion of  it. 

In  proportion  as  this  quasi-Christianity  spread  over 
France,  the  sublime  inspirations  of  faith  and  piety 
became  weaker.  During  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth 
century  there  was  but  one  new  institution,  that  of 
de  la  Salle,  a  tardy  scion  of  the  great  tree  of  which 
some  years  before  it  was  impossible  to  number  the 
new  shoots.  The  old  institutions  languished,  and 
some  literally  died  out.  In  France,  virgins  and  apos- 
tles, souls  consecrated  to  God,  became  fewer  and  fewer. 
The  old  abbeys  were  too  spacious  for  their  inmates 
daily  diminishing  in  numbers;  and  in  revenge  at  not 
being  able  to  people  them,  they  pulled  them  down. 
The  riches  no  longer  necessary,  since  the  monasteries 
were  now  deserted,  were  used  in  demolishing  the  old 
cloisters  of  the  twelfth  anri  the.  thirteenth  centuries,  so 


State  of  the  Church  in  France  at  her  Birth.   29 

interesting  in  point  of  art,  which  had  been  erected  by 
saints,  and  embalmed  with  the  still  living  traces  of  their 
footsteps.  They  replaced  them  by  magnificent  abbeys 
in  the  style  of  Versailles,  that  is  to  say,  as  destitute  of 
style  as  of  reminiscences.  The  same  spectacle  was  wit- 
nessed in  the  ranks  of  the  clergy,  among  whom  were 
found  some  zealous  priests,  some  men  of  duty,  but  no 
saints.  All  was  mediocre,  no  enthusiasm,  no  fire.  Mis- 
sions died  out,  and  a  sensible  diminution  of  warmth 
and  life  was  everywhere  felt.  As  one  sometimes  sees  a 
grand  old  tree  no  longer  shooting  its  huge  branches 
toward  heaven,  no  longer  clothed  in  luxuriant  foliage, 
because  of  the  wound  at  the  root,  so  the  Church  of 
France  gave  signs  of  deep-seated  disease. 

This  was,  however,  only  the  beginning  of  the  trouble. 
Whilst  within  the  Church  pious  souls  grew  cold,  the 
breath  of  irreligion  was  blowing  without.  This  half- 
Christianity,  which  had  not  sufficient  beauty  to  enrap- 
ture souls,  was  still  less  capable  of  opposing  the  detest- 
able effects  of  Protestantism.  They  filtered  through,  if 
we  may  dare  so  to  speak,  the  swaying  and  disjointed 
dikes.  In  the  same  way  as  Luther  and  Calvin  tore  the 
Creed  to  pieces  and  scoffed  at  the  Church,  Voltaire  and 
Rousseau  cut  up  the  Gospel  and  mocked  at  Jesus  Christ. 
By  virtue  of  the  same  right,  also,  and  supported  on  the 
same  principles,  Diderot,  d'Holbach,  Helvetius,  Lamet- 
trie,  denied  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  jeered  at  a 
future  life.  Nothing  in  the  intellectual,  moral,  or  relig- 
ious order  was  respected.  A  spirit  of  universal  revolt 
agitated  France,  till  then  so  devoted  to  her  kings.  Never 
had  there  been  so  much  said  of  tenderness,  benevolence, 
philanthropy;  yet  never  had  hearts  been  harder.  In- 
tense egotism  dried  them  up.  Never  had  men  been 
more  gracious,  more  amiable,  more  frizzed  and  powdered, 
more  fascinating;  but  never  had  men  so  heartily  de- 
spised one  another.  The  one  step  between  contempt 
and  hatred  was  cleared  at  a  single  bound  toward  the 


30  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

close  of  the  eignteenth  century.  A  hatred  till  then  un- 
known, universal  and  ferocious,  filled  souls.  The  day 
came  on  which  that  hatred,  no  longer  able  to  restrain 
itself,  burst  forth.  Then  fearful  scenes  were  witnessed. 
Scaffolds  were  erected,  and  to  them  were  dragged  the 
king,  the  queen,  the  royal  family,  the  nobles,  clergy, 
parliament,  all  kinds  of  people.  Men  were  drunk  with 
blood.  They  massacred  one  another  without  being 
able  to  satisfy  the  madness  that  dishonored  them. 

But  if  this  hatred  of  man  for  man  was  at  the  time 
inexplicable,  if  it  pointed  to  some  prodigious  derange- 
ment in  the  French  nature,  what  shall  we  say  of  the 
hatred  of  men  for  God  ?  Everything  that  recalled  His 
memory  was  odious.  They  cut  priests'  throats;  burnt 
monasteries,  broke  crucifixes,  riddled  statues  at  the 
church  doors  ;  profaned  altars  by  the  most  revolting  ob- 
scenities; rolled  consecrated  Hosts  in  the  dust,  then 
cast  them  into  the  flames,  and  performed  around  them 
lascivious  dances.  Never  before  had  the  like  shocked 
Heaven.  During  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, there  were  seen  in  our  cities  and  villages  wander 
ers  whom  the  sight  of  such  horrors  had  crazed. 

Behold  what  the  French  nation,  so  noble,  so  generous, 
had  become !  That  old  Frankish  race  which  had  con 
tracted  with  Jesus  Christ  so  beautiful  an  alliance;  which 
had  received  from  Heaven  incomparable  gifts;  which, 
magnificent  in  gratitude,  had  cast  on  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  the  greatest  human  glory  ever  received  from  any 
nation;  whose  kings  esteemed  themselves  honored  in 
being  called  the  EMest  Sons  of  the  Church, — behold  how 
it  has  fallen  !  Love  grew  cold,  and  then,  as  often  hap- 
pens, we  see  it  totally  extinguished  in  hatred  against 
self  and  God.  We  behold  the  descendants  of  those 
sturdy  Franks  with  cries  of  fury  tearing  out  their  own 
intestines,  if  we  may  use  the  expression,  and  France  be- 
come an  enduring  example  of  a  nation  straying  from  its 
course  and  unfaithful  to  its  mission. 


State  of  the  Church  in  France  at  her  Birth.   3 1 

Still  this  ebullition  of  hatred  was  not  the  saddest 
symptom.  Coldness  soon  entered  into  its  hatred,  as 
once  before  into  its  love.  For  that  Christ  whom  it  had 
loved  so  much,  it  now  felt  only  indifference.  We  be- 
hold France  during  the  first  fifty  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century  coolly  effacing  His  name  from  her  laws  and 
constitutions.  Even  His  memory  she  could  no  longer 
tolerate  in  her  official  life.  She  banished  Him  from  her 
soil;  but  being  forced  to  let  Him  return,  she  inclosed 
Him  in  His  churches,  or,  as  she  said  disdainfully,  in  His 
sacristies,  and  forbade  Him  to  appear  in  public.  Thus 
unfaithful  and  adulterous,  after  an  explosion  of  rage 
against  Him  who  had  so  much  loved  her,  she  sought 
even  to  efface  Him  from  her  memory. 

What  a  misfortune  could  such  things  be  done  with 
impunity!  But  God  does  not  permit  that.  The  woman 
who  has  once  freely  given  her  heart  may  desert  the  ob- 
ject of  her  choice,  may  throw  herself  into  the  arms  of 
her  guilty  love,  may  be  intoxicated  for  the  moment ;  but 
happiness  has  fled  from  her  forever.  Never  again  can 
she  taste  the  peaceful  charm  of  innocent  affection;  never 
again  can  she  know  the  dignity  of  the  wife, the  honorof  the 
mother,  and  those  other  joys  so  unmixed  because  blessed 
by  God.  Thus  it  is  with  France  in  her  sad  nineteenth 
century,  now  drawing  to  a  close.  Unfaithful  to  her 
mission,  she  has  lived  to  behold  her  grandest  gifts 
turned  against  herself.  Vainly  has  she  called  science 
and  genius  to  her  aid.  France  is  no  longer  the  same. 
She  no  longer  exerts  a  world-wide  influence.  She  no 
longer  rests  on  the  same  elevated  plain;  each  day  sees  a 
new  step  toward  the  abyss.  Yesterday,  in  the  name  of 
pretended  political  rights,  she  banished  her  kings  and 
tore  her  constitutions  into  shreds.  To-day,  there  is 
question  as  to  whether  she  will  guard  the  family  tie, 
the  right  of  property;  whether,  in  fact,  society  itself 
shall  remain  standing.  One  catastrophe  evokes  another. 
France  is  quaking  to  her  verv  foundations;  and  we  may 


32   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

confidently  look  forward  to  the  time  in  which  an  honest 
man  will  not  find  on  the  once  generous  soil  of  France  a 
stone  whereon  to  rest  his  head. 

And  yet  she  pursues  her  follies.  She  sows  impiety 
broadcast.  She  makes  use  of  her  beautiful  language, 
that  ideal  tongue,  to  propagate  the  brutalities  of  athe- 
ism and  materialism.  Impious  and  voluptuous,  she 
dances  on  Vesuvius  in  flames.  The  world  looks  on 
alarmed,  and  asks  what  would  become  of  the  remnant  of 
faith,  of  religion  and  morality,  in  Europe,  if  France  were 
still  queen  of  the  nations. 

One  might  have  thought  that,  after  such  an  abandon- 
ment of  her  sacred  vocation,  God  would  have  indignantly 
rejected  France,  that  He  would  have  withdrawn  her 
mission,  and  with  it  the  gifts  received  for  its  accomplish- 
ment, but  which  have  now  become  useless  to  her.  But 
in  those  pitiable  divorces  in  which  man  sunders  what 
God  had  united,  something  very  wonderful  occasionally 
happens,  and  that  is,  the  abandoned,  the  betrayed,  the 
unloved,  continues  to  love.  He  pursues  the  unfaithful 
one  with  a  love  from  which  love  never  dies.  He  multi- 
plies benefits  in  his  eagerness  to  reach  the  heart  from 
which  he  cannot  sever  his  own.     He  says  with  the  poet: 

M  I  have  lavished  them  upon  thee, 
I  wish  to  lavish  them  upon  thee." 

This  was  what  was  seen  here.  Knowing  France,  know- 
ing that  no  nation  is  so  capable  of  excesses  so  sad ;  but 
knowing,  also,  that  none  can  compare  with  her  in  fervor 
of  repentance,  none  in  ardor  of  love,  God  resolved  to 
conquer  her  by  the  force  of  His  own  tenderness.  One 
day  He  appeared  and,  laying  bare  His  breast,  showed 
her  His  Heart,  and  demanded  hers  in  return.  Eighteen 
hundred  years  have  rolled  away  since  Jesus  Christ  died 
on  the  Cross,  and  no  genius  has  yet  succeeded  in  repre- 
senting Him  to  us  in  His  ideal  beauty.  After  Raphael 
and  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  even  after  Blessed  Angelico,  the 


State  of  the  Church  in  France  at  her  Birth.   33 

crucifix  is  still  a  piece  of  art  g^.  a  :ian  any  painting. 

And  sc  .ad  revelation  of  infinite 

lore.     No  one  will  s  -  -  /  .  ■  -  -  -         ::on 

of  Jest       .      -ance  and  fee  .hat  look  in  which 

-oach  was  drowned  in  tenderness;  that  gesture  of  un- 
recognized love;  that  breast  glowing  like  a  furnace; 
that  Heart  shining  like  the  sun  !     All  this  will  reach  the 

ii  of  beauty  only  in  the  ecstatic  contemplations  of  the 
saints;  and  the  ages   as   they  roll  on  will  learn  from 
astonished  humanity  the  grandeur  of  this  stupendous 
it.     Two  hundred  years  since  the  apparition  took 
place,  and  we  a-  00    near   to   measure    its   ma- 

jestic  -  iofls.      It    was    bora    a:  a  time  in  which 

'.nee  deemed  herself  at  the  pinnacle  of  her  glory;  but 
in  whic  0  sounds  the  heart  and    reins  of  man, 

^ady  perceived  the   worm  about  to  touch  the  flower 
and  blight  it  on  its  stem.      Unknowa,  or  vaguely  under- 
n  the  eight*  ■-  - .:  -.  :  t  -  : .  as  too  sceptical 

and  too  sensual  for  emotions  so  pure;  not  shown  upon 
our  altars  till  the  nineteenth  century;  having  need  of 
overwhelming  misfortunes  to   be  welcomed  bj'  soc. 

its  distress, — the  devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  will 
probably  not  reach  the  sublime  acme  of  its  expansion 
until  the  twentieth  century,  when  will  be  drawn  the  ] 
consequences  of  the  fatal  principles  that  are  now  ruining 
us,  and  when  shall  occ .  -  "  .fortunes  more  frightful  than 
those  we  have  yet  experienced.  Then,  in  that  storm  of 
consummate  evil,  shall  arise  the  perfect  remec  .  - 

:  .1  lift  her  despairing  eyes  to  that  Heart  ■  which  has 
so  loved  men."     She  will  consecrate  herst  1  rmAmAt^ 

lore,  and  thus  arise  from  the  abyss. 

In  expectation  of  this  glorious  event,  we  must  study 
the  genesis  of  the  great  devotion.     For  this  we  must 

-.sport  ourselves  to  Paray-le-Monial,  where  it  was  re- 
.  pping  on  our  way  at  Yen  1    na    where  was 
born  the  lowly  virgin  to  whom  it  was  first  confided — its 
first  apostie,  the  humble  Margaret. 


j4    Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BIRTH  OF     SAINT       MARGARET   MARY.     FIRST    YEARS. 
CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH. 

1 647-1 662. 

"Sicut  lilium!" 

"  As  the  lily  among  thorns,  so  is  my  love  among  the  daughters..* 
— Cant.  ii.  2. 

"  Tota  pulchra  es,  arnica  mea,  et  macula  non  est  in  te." 

"  Thou  art  all  fair,  O  my  love,  and  there  is  not  a  spot  in  thee." 
— Cant.  iv.  7. 

5N  setting  out  from  Paray  for  Verosvres,  one  leaves 
on  his  right  the  little  town  of  Charolles.  He 
admires  as  he  passes  along  the  sweet  and  tran- 
quil beauty  of  the  horizon's  broad  lines  imperceptibly 
lost  in  the  distance,  and,  at  a  turn  of  a  high,  wooded 
mountain,  comes  suddenly  upon  a  landscape  whose 
novelty  strikes  him  with  surprise.  It  is  a  vast  amphi- 
theatre of  granite  rocks,  four  leagues,  perhaps,  by  five. 
One  might  think  them  moulded  from  the  molten  mass  of 
earth's  first  formation,  and  then  suddenly  cooled.  They 
form  against  the  horizon  a  chain  of  jagged  mountain- 
peaks,  rising  one  above  the  other  like  the  tiers  of  an  am- 
phitheatre. In  vain  has  ever-fruitful  nature  scattered 
amidst  these  deeply  embedded  rocks  and  on  their  lofty 
summits  clusters  of  tall  oaks,  and  even  some  sombre 
forest  pines.  At  every  turn  the  granite  surface  dis- 
places the  verdure,  and  immense  blocks  rising  through 
the  trees  produce  the  effect  of  gigantic  ruins. 

If  one  looks  back  from  the  distant  horizon,  a  similar 
scene  presents  itself.  Deep,  narrow  valleys,  sudden 
projections;  ponds  that  seem  to  occupy  the  place  of  ex- 
tinct craters;  streams   of  clear,  sparkling  spring-water, 


Birth,  Childhood,  and  Youth.   .  35 

the  happy  privilege  of  granite  soil;  and  here  and  there 
in  the  fields  enormous  blocks,  framed  in  wild  broom 
and  heath  rising  to  the  sun.  Now  we  have  the  picture; 
and  it  would  be  sombre  were  it  not  so  varied.  There 
is  in  it  something  sublime  and  austere  that  invites  one 
to  silence  and  recollection.  The  vast  horizon,  the  lofty 
mountains,  the  massive  rocks  that  defy  man's  power  to 
move;  the  sterile  soil  that  exacts  abundant  sweat, 
and  gives  but  poor  harvests  in  return, — all  these  make 
felt  the  grandeur  of  God  and  the  littleness  of  man.  We 
might  say  that  this  corner  of  the  world  was  created  ex- 
pressly to  awaken  the  desire  for  heaven. 

In  the  centre  of  the  amphitheatre  and  on  its  highest 
peak,  rises  a  church,  rebuilt  unhappily,  and  now  dedi 
cated  to  the  Sacred  Heart.  This  is  the  church  of  Ver- 
osvres.  '  The  village,  instead  of  grouping  around 
the  church,  is  scattered  in  all  directions.  We  noticed 
on  different  sides  groups  of  houses  forming  little  ham- 
lets, inhabited  by  husbandmen  and  farmers.  Each  of 
these  hamlets  has  its  name.   It  was  in  that  of  Lhautecour, 

1  Tae  new  church  has  been  rebuilt  some  years.  Although  we  grant 
that  the  old  one  .ii  which  Margaret  was  baptized,  in  which  she  prayed, 
received  holy  Communion  so  frequently,  and  was  ravished  into  ecstasy, 
needed  rebuilding,  yet  an  intelligent  and  Christian  architect  like  those 
of  the  Middle  Ages  would  have  found  means  to  enclose  the  most  pre- 
cious parts  of  the  old  edifice  in  the  new.  For  example,  the  apse  with 
its  altar  and  Communion-table  he  would  have  made  a  chapel.  Instead 
of  this,  everything  was  destroyed,  razed  to  the  ground,  not  a  stone 
preserved.  Even  the  altar  was  demolished;  even  the  baptismal  font 
was  not  spared.  At  Assisi  is  shown  the  font  in  which  St,  Francis  was 
baptized;  in  Spain,  that  of  St.  Dominic;  at  Siena,  the  spot  upon  which 
St.  Catharine  knelt :  but  here  in  Verosvres  is  found  nothing  suggestive 
of  sweet  reminiscences.  A  huge,  cold  church  without  souvenir  or 
legend.  Alas!  God  grant  that  what  has  been  done  here  be  not  soon 
repeated  at  Ars!  There,  too,  has  been  begun  an  immense  church,  which 
threatens  the  destruction  of  the  poor  old  one  of  the  venerable  cure. 
Even  a  short  time  after  his  death  we  approached  the  confessional  in 
which  he  passed  his  life,  and  which  ought  to  be  held  sacred  as  a  relic,  and 
we  found  a  missionary  of  Ars  installed  in  it!  Oh,  how  frivolous  isouv 
age!     Nothing  now  commands  respect) 


36   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoqitc. 

running  in  a  right  line  behind  the  apse  of  the  church 
and  within  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  distance  from  it,  that 
Margaret  Mary  was  born.1 

Her  father  was  Claude  Alacoque.  He  belonged  to 
that  portion  of  the  French  nation  which,  in  1647,  was 
nothing  and  yet  was  preparing  to  be  everything;  which, 
while  waiting,  was  silently  amassing  fortune  and  influ- 
ence; which  had  not  yet  lost,  thanks  to  God,  either  faith 
or  morals.  His  dwelling,  which  is  still  standing,  pos- 
sesses a  certain  degree  of  style  with  its  two  large  main 
buildings,  separated  by  a  courtyard.  The  first  served 
as  a  family  residence.  It  was  commonly  called  the  "  cabi- 
net house,"  because  in  it  was  the  office  of  Mr.  Alacoque, 
royal  notary  of  Lhautecour.  There  is  also  to  be  seen 
the  room  in  which  Margaret  was  born,  now  transformed 
into  a  chapel  and  dedicated  to  the  Sacred  Heart.  The 
beams  and  rafters  of  the  ceiling  are  covered  with  alle- 
gorical pictures  in  the  Renaissance  style.  In  the  middle 
of  them  is  a  cartouch,  supported  by  two  cupids,  on 
which  are  inscribed  the  Alacoque  arms;  for  this  family, 
already  ancient,  had  its  arms.  "  It  bore  on  a  field  of 
gold  a  red  cock  at  the  summit,  and  a  lion,  also  red,  at  the 
base  of  the  shield."  a  .This  building  was  consumed  by 
fire,  traces  of  which  are  yet  seen.  It  was  rebuilt  later 
on,  but  all  that  now  remains  of  it  is  the  square  tower 
at  the  end  of  the  edifice,  in  which  Margaret  Mary  was 
born.3 

1  One  or  Iwo  documents  lightly  studied  and  only  partly  understood 
have,  in  these  latter  times,  cast  a  shade  of  obscurity  on  this  point.  We 
shall  see  in  a  note  at  the  end  of  the  volume  that  the  fact  is  not  even  to 
be  questioned,  and  that  a  contemporaneous  tradition, uninterrupted  and 
unanimous,  permits  no  doubt  on  the  birth  of  Margaret  at  the  hamlet  of 
Lhautecour  in  the  village  of  V6r0SVT8S. 

2  "  The  coat-of-arms  of  Chrysostom  Alacoque,  mayor  for  life  of 
Bois-Marie,  bears  on  a  field  of  gold  a  red  cock  at  the  summit,  and  a 
lion,  also  red,  at  the  base  of   the  shield"  (Tome  ii.  p.  205). 

*  The   tradition  of   the  country   is   that   the  residence  of   Mr.   Ala- 


Birth,  Childhood,  and  Youth.  $7 

The  other  building  is  in  front,  perfect  and  entire,  the 
entrance  through  an  arched  gateway  now  closed.  It  is 
probable  that  it  also  served  as  a  dwelling  for  the  Ala- 
coque  family,  either  after  the  fire  had  consumed  part  of 
the  adjoining  house,  or  when  their  increase  in  numbers 
rendered  the  first  too  small.  On  the  ground-floor  were 
three  large  rooms,  with  large  chimney-places  and  planks 
and  beams  black  from  age.  An  exterior  gallery,  the 
stairs  to  which  were  formed  of  large  blocks  of  granite, 
now  disjointed  and  broken,  led  to  the  second  story,  which 
consisted  of  two  spacious  apartments  opening  on  the 
gallery.  In  the  first,  in  a  corner  to  the  east,  is  found  a 
small  room  which  is  still. called  the  "Chamber  of  the 
Venerable."  The  ceiling  is  covered  with  pictures  rep- 
resenting a  hunt,  in  which  figure  a  lion,  a  tiger,  an 
ostrich,  an  elephant,  etc.  These  pictures  are  of  the  same 
style  and  appear  to  be  by  the  same  hand  as  that  which 
ornamented  the  other  parts  of  the  building.  There  are 
no  paintings  in  the  second  room,  but  it  is  beautifully 
floored  with  oak  carefully  joined,  which  sufficiently  in- 
dicates that  the  dwelling  was  not  a  mere  farm-house. 

A  court  separates  the  two  buildings.  The  old  walls 
may  still  be  seen,  and,  strange  sight  !  the  roofs  are 
formed  of  granite  flags  of  a  single  piece.  The  whole  is 
surrounded  by  gardens  terminating  in  a  little  wood, 
which  clothes  the  rapid  descent  into  a  narrow  valley. 
This  was  the  whole  extent  of  the  property.     In  the  cen- 

coque,  at  least  that  portion  of  it  which  they  called  the  "  cabinet  house," 
was  destroyed  by  fire.  M.  l'abbe  Beauchamps  testified  to  this  fact  in 
1 831, on  the  assurance  of  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  the  country.  Even 
before  learning  this  tradition,  it  was  evident  to  us.  By  a  careful  study 
of  the  first  building,  we  discovered  traces  of  fire,  and  saw  that  the  re- 
pairs had  been  made  with  inferior  materials.  The  square  tower,  in 
which  was  the  saint's  chamber,  had  been  converted  into  a  chapel.  It 
alone  escaped  the  flames,  and  it  alone  presents  an  appearance  of  age. 
It  was  from  not  having  proved  this  fact  that  M.  l'abbe  Beauchamps 
and  M.  l'abbe  Devercheres  blundered  in  their  researches.  They  sought, 
we  know  not  where,  traces  of  a  burned  house,  but  sought  in  vain! 


38   Life  qfSatfU  Margaret  Mar\  ...       pu, 

tre  of  the  little  valley  darts  up  one  of  those  immense 
blocks  of  granite  with  which,  as  we  have  seen  above, 
the  whole  country  is  sown.  It  formed  for  twenty  years 
Margaret's  chosen  solitude,  her  refuge  in  hours  of  trial, 
the  scene  of  her  prayer,  the  witness  of  her  first  ecsta- 
sies. 

The  spacious  dwelling  had  passed  into  the  Alacoque 
family  in  consequence  of  the  marriage  of  the  grandfather 
of  the  saint  with  Jane  Delaroche,1  whose  patrimony  it 
was.  Claude  had  received  the  title  of  eldest  son,  or 
perhaps,  as  was  the  custom,  that  of  co-heir.  He  had  an 
unmarried  sister  named  Catharine,  who  lived  with  him. 
Another  sister,  named  Benedicta.  married  Toussaint 
Delaroche,  and  became  the  mother  of  four  children. 
In  accordance  with  the  custom  of  these  patriarchal  fam- 
ilies, she,  too,  dwelt  with  her  brother.  Lastly,  he  had 
a  brother  named  Antoine.  He  was  in  Holy  Orders  and, 
at  this  time,  cure  of  Yerosvres.  Besides  the  care  of  his 
domain,  the  charge  of  which  rested  particularly  on  his 
brother-in-law  Toussaint  Delaroche,  Mr.  Claude  Ala- 
coque held  the  office  of  royal  notary  of  Lhautecour. 
Later  on  he  joined  thereto  the  title  of  judge  for  the 
seigniories  of  la  Roche,  Terreau,  Corcheval,  and  Pre 
All  this,  together  with  the  highest  reputation  for  honor 
and  integrity,  had  made  Claude  a  man  of  consideration 
scarcely  a  degree  below  the  neighboring  nobility,  and 
very  much  superior  to  the  common  people. 

Hence  we  find  his  name  on  every  page  of  the  parish 
register  of  Yerosvres.  There  is  not  a  marriage  at  Lhau- 
tecour in  which  he  does  not  figure  as  witness,  and, 
what  is  more  extraordinary,  scarcely  a  baptism  in  which 
he  is  not  godfather.  In  the  latter  case,  whether  owing 
to  his  title  of  royal  notary  or  on  account  of  his  beauti- 

According  to  the  archrres  found  in  the  Chateau  D\A.udour, 
see  that  they  were  originally  of  the  hamlet  of  Audour,  parish  of 
Dompierre-les-Ormes,    and   that    tins'  I  largaret. 

who  married  Jane  Dfc  .    gum  ::    re:  le  :-.:  Lhaateooar. 


Birth.  Childhood,  and  Youth.  \  -. 

t ui  penmanship,  his  brother  Antoine.  cure  of  Verosrres 
in  variably  handed  him  the  pea,  and  it  was  be  who  reg- 

> .."':;-  -•-  '*.-. -■:*.  .-.  -- .  .'.  .".  -*"i  -v  f.v*  -«-•:-:■».*-  .7 
years  old,  married  Mile.  Phifiberte  Laanm,  then  nine- 
teen. Both  were  pious  and  worth  y  of  gmsf  birth  to  a 
saint.  Of  this  union,  blessed  by  God,  were  i»rr  serec 
children,  four  sons  and  three  daughters," 

Margaret  was  the  fifth  child.  She  was  bom  on  July 
c 647,  feast  of  St-  Magdalen,  and  was  not  baptized, 
we  know  not  why,  until  three  days  after,  the  25th,  in 
the  church  of  Verosrres.  Her  own  uncle,  her  father's 
brother,  M.  Antoine  Alacoque,  cure  of  Verosrres,  was 
her  godfather.  The  godmother  was  Madame  Margue- 
rite de  Saint-Amour,  wife  of  M.  de  Fantrieres,  lord  of 
CorcheraL'  The  noble  family  wished  to  give  this  pub- 
lic proof  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  they  held  M.  A2a- 

God,  who  destined  this  holy  child  to  rekindle  in  the 

should  first  be  consumed  in  it-     As  a  little  one,  she 

lt*£:t.*i  '.r.Iy  :'-.r    >; . :    C'.-::    ;--■:   :**-*■:    : -.  7  :~.    .  _- 
I-  ±*  -_.-'.     *:  -.:  :'--  \    -.     -.  Z  A;-:..-  v -  --  -."-*  r-::ri;  ;:' 

isihUiilli   rln  fcwilaiM  if  w   fililf  r  infM    rwf  iifTTini ,  11I11 

.:-   v      -  ■■:":   :::::    •:-.     :-    :^:    r.::":    .':  _:t:;     -        .  -..- 
part  of    Scnw    Margaret  Marys  fife ;  aoagk  we  axe  ua^e  10  do 

*  Here  is  the  baptismal  register  : 
Margaret,  daogbter  of  M.  CZaade  Alacotpe.  royal  aofarr.  and  « 

_;.    r..---.     ■-_    ■'.,-     -"--,    ■j-.y.z--.    :j    :-     _-,i*-:_i-~:      :-.--    -.: 
Verosrres,  Wednesday,  Jary  *£,  *6*7-     I,  Ker.  Aanwae  A^coqee. 

rile  de  Sc  Amour,  wife  of  Most  de  Corcaeval.  who  ase  anami'iiis. 
-  C.  Dt  FArmnos.  M.  de  St.  Ajsock. 

ConcfurTAi.  Ajtt.  Aiarnqro." 


40  .Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

please  Him.  "  From  the  age  of  two  or  three  years," 
writes  her  first  historian,  "  she  had  so  great  horror  of 
even  the  least  shadow  of  sin,  that  to  curb  her  childish 
inclinations  it  was  sufficient  to  tell  her  that  it  was  offen- 
sive to  God.  Nothing  more  was  necessary  ;  she  yielded 
at  once."  * 

"  O  my  only  Love,"  exclaims  Margaret,  "  how  in- 
debted I  am  to  Thee  for  having  prevented  me  from  my 
tenderest  youth,  for  having  made  Thyself  Master  of  my 
heart  !  As  soon  as  I  came  to  the  use  of  reason,  Thou 
didst  display  before  my  soul  the  deformity  of  sin,  and 
this  impressed  me  with  such  horror  for  it  that  the  least 
stain  was  to  me  insupportable  torment.  To  restrain  the 
vivacity  of  my  childhood,  my  friends  had  only  to  say 
that  what  I  wished  was  perhaps  displeasing  to  God. 
This  put  an  end  to  my  childish  pranks."  a 

1  "  Abridgment  of  the  Life  of  Sister  Margaret  M.  Alacoque,  Relig- 
ious of  the  Visitation  of  Holy  Mary,  of  whom  God  made  use  to  estab- 
lish devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  who  died  in  the 
odor  of  sanctity,  October  17,  1690."  Published  at  Lyons  by  Antoine 
and  Horace  Molin,  1691,  the  year  following  the  death  of  Margaret 
Mary.  It  has  been  republished  in  our  times  by  Rev.  C.  Daniel,  in  one 
vol.  i2tno  (Paris,  Douniol,  1865). 

8  "  Memoire  "  written  by  the  saint  by  order  of  Rev.  Father  Rollin,  her 
director.  Autographic  MSS.  belonging  to  the  Visitation  of  Paray.  Of 
the  different  Me  moires  written  by  the  saint  in  obedience  to  her  direct- 
ors, this  is  the  only  one  that  has  escaped  the  flames,  the  same  power 
forbidding  its  destruction.  It  was  never  finished.  But  as  it  begins 
with  her  birth  and  includes  the  revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  it  is 
of  inestimable  value,  as  well  for  the  relation  itself,  as  for  the  manner 
in  which  her  story  is  told.  One  feels  impressed  at  every  instant  with 
the  sublimity  of  a  Teresa  and  the  heart-felt  and  touching  utterances  of 
an  Augustine.  It  alone  suffices  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  revelations, 
whilst  demonstrating  the  beauty,  sincerity,  purity,  and  humility  of  the 
soul  to  whom  they  were  made.  We  shall  copy  from  it  as  often  as  pos- 
sible, thus  giving  it  to  our  readers  almost  entire.  It  was  first  edited 
by  Pere  de  Gallifet,  at  the  end  of  his  beautiful  treatise  on  "  The  Ex- 
cellence of  Devotion  to  the  Adorable  Heart  of  Jesus  Christ."  Pere 
Charles  Daniel  republished  it  in  1865.  Many  other  editions  appeared 
in  the  mean  time,  but  in  all  were  detected  numerous  faults.     In  1867 


Birth,  Childhood,  and  Youth.  41 

Her  b/other  Chrysostom  relates  a  charming  example 
in  this  connection.  "Whilst  still  a  child,"  said  he,  "she 
evinced  singular  marks  of  sanctity,  fervor,  and  horror 
of  sin.  Once  at  carnival-time  when  I  was  seven  years 
old  and  my  little  sister  five,  I  proposed  to  exchange 
dress  with  her.  Mine  was  a  soldier's  suit,  and  I  had  a 
sword  with  which  I  was  going  to  sally  forth  against  the 
farmers  whom  I  espied  approaching.  Margaret  replied 
that  it  would  perhaps  offend  God  and  that  she  did  not 
wish  to  do  anything  displeasing  to  Him.  She  had  no 
desire  either  to  imitate  or  to  accompany  the  maskers. 
The  child  was  then  only  five  years  old."  1 

To  this  delicacy  of  conscience  was  added  such  a  love 
of  prayer,  with  instincts  for  penance  so  precocious  and 
so  astonishing,  that  there  is  no  room  to  doubt,  say  her 
first  historians,  that  for  several  centuries  her  like  was 
never  seen.2 

the  Visitation  of  Paray  determined  to  publish  a  carefully  collated  edi- 
tion of  the  original.  It  formed  part  of  the  work  entitled  "  Life  and 
Works  of  Blessed  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque,"  2  vols.  8vo  (Paris,  Pous« 
sielgue,  1867).     This  is  the  edition  from  which  we  shall  cite. 

1  "  Process  of  Beatification  and  Canonization  of  the  Venerable  Servant 
of  God,  Margaret  Ma/y  Alacoque,  Religious  of  the  Visitation,  B.  V.  M., 
of  the  Convent  of  Paiay  in  Burgundy,"  published  by  authority  of  the 
ordinary  in  1 71 5;  1  vol.  in  folio  MS.  belonging  to  the  Visitation  ol 
Paray,  approved  and  signed  by  the  ecclesiastical  commissaries.  We 
have  carefully  studied  it,  and  all  our  citations  are  made  from  th« 
original. 

2  "  Life  of  the  Blessed  by  Contemporaries."  They  call  this  a 
"Memoire"  written  by  two  of  the  religious  of  Paray  contemporary  with 
Margaret  Mary:  Sister  Frances  Rosalie  Verchere  and  Sister  Peronne 
Rosalie  de  Farges.  This  "Memoire  '  had  been  compiled  for  Mgr.  Lan- 
guet,  Archbishop  of  Sens,  Vicar-General  of  Autun,  when  he  was  pre- 
paring to  write  the  "Life  of  the  Blessed."  After  using  it,  and  the 
"Life"  had  appeared  (1  vol.  4to,  1719),  he  returned  to  the  Visitation 
of  Paray  this  "M6 moire,"  which  formed  the  basis  of  his  work.  Con- 
sidered henceforth  useless,  it  remained  among  the  MSS.  in  the  archives 
of  the  convent.  Finally,  the  religious  of  Paray  published  a  first  edition 
carefully  collated  from  the  original  and  even  increased  from  documents 
preserved  in  their  archives.     It  forms  the  first  volume  of  the  work 


42   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

At  the  age  of  four  and  a  half  years,  Margaret  left  her 
father's  house  to  reside  with  her  godmother,  Mme.  de 
Fautrieres  de  Corcheval,  who  greatly  desired  to  have 
the  child  with  her.  Perhaps  the  increasing  number  of 
M.  Alacoque's  children,  already  seven,  had  inspired  this 
noble  lady  with  the  thought  of  relieving  the  burden  of 
so  excellent  a  family.  Perhaps,  too,  having  no  children, 
a  privation  always  regretted  by  her,  she  proposed  to 
adopt  her  little  godchild.  M.  and  Mme.  Alacoque, 
having  their  child's  interest  at  heart,  consented.  This 
they  did  all  the  more  readily,  as  the  castle  of  Corcheval 
was  only  a  league  from  Lhautecour,  and,  as  M.  Claude 
was  judge  of  that  manor,  as  well  as  of  Terreau,  he  was 
frequently  obliged  to  go  thither.  Mme.  Alacoque  pre- 
pared her  dear  little  daughter,  and  took  her  herself  to 
Corcheval.  Built  in  the  far-off  past,  stripped  of  its 
towers  by  Coligny,  who  demolished  them  during  the 
religious  wars  when  he  held  possession,  and  restored 
under  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII.,  the  chateau  de  Corcheval 
still  stands,  joining  to  the  massive  architecture  of  the 
feudal  ages  the  imposing  appearance  of  the  magnifi- 
cent castles  of  the  seventeenth  century.  A  high  moun- 
tain covered  with  forests  overshadows  it,  and  the  most 
beautiful  trees  in  the  world,  a  clump  of  young  horn- 
beams three  centuries  old,  wave  their  verdant  branches 
under  the  very  windows.  The  whole  place  breathes 
solitude,  and  here  our  holy  child  developed  the  rare 
beauty  of  her  innocent  soul.  The  deep  shadows  of  the 
groves  and  forest  attracted  her.  "  My  greatest  desire," 
said  she,  "was  to  bury  myself  in  some  wood;  and 
nothing  prevented  me  from  gratifying  it  but  the  fear 
of  meeting  men."  1 

Just  outside  the  gate  of  the  castle,  and  on  the  very 
same  terrace,  stood  the  chapel,  shaded  also  by  horn- 
entitled  "Life  and  Works  of  the  Blessed,"  of  which  we  are  now 
speaking. 

1  Memoire,  p.  290. 


Birth,  Childhood,  and  Youth.  43 

oeam-trees.  Here  the  little  girl  often  retired.  "  Here 
she  passed  long  hours  kneeling,  her  little  hands  joined. 
Far  from  growing  weary,  she  esteemed  no  pleasure  in  life 
equal  to  that  tasted  in  those  moments  of  silent  prayer, 
which  was  never  discontinued  but  with  regret."1 

"  I  was  constantly  urged,"  she  says,  "  to  repeat  these 
words,  the  sense  of  which  I  did  not  understand:  'My 
God,  I  consecrate  to  Thee  my  purity!  My  God,  I  make 
to  Thee  a  vow  of  perpetual  chastity!  '  Once  I  repeated 
them  between  the  twro  elevations  of  holy  Mass,  which  I 
generally  heard  on  my  bare  knees  however  cold  the 
weather  might  be.  I  did  not  know  what  I  had  done, 
nor  what  the  words  voiv  and  chastity  signified."  2  She 
understood  but  one  thing,  and  that  was  that  these 
mysterious  words,  which  hovered  constantly  on  her 
lips  at  the  most  solemn  moments,  meant  the  complete 
gift  of  herself  to  a  God  whom  she  esteemed  worthy  of 
all  gifts. 

At  the  same  time  there  was  born  in  her  that  attrac- 
tion for  prayer  which  was  to  make  her  one  of  the  great- 
est contemplatives  ever  known  in  the  Church.  "  Frorr 
this  early  age,"  says  Pere  Croiset,  "  the  Holy  Ghos\ 
Himself  wished  to  teach  her  the  fundamental  point  of 
the  interior  life,  and  bestow  upon  her  the  spirit  of 
prayer.  Whenever  she  could  not  be  found  on  her  knees 
in  some  part  of  the  house,  her  friends  were  accustomed 
to  look  for  her  in  the  church;  and  there  she  was  sure  to 
be  discovered  immovable  before  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment.7' 

The  weak  health  of  Mme.  de  Corcheval  did  not  per- 
mit her  to  superintend,  as  she  wished,  Margaret's  edu- 
cation; therefore  she  remitted  that  charge  to  two  of 
her  lady  companions,  who  taught  the  child  to  pray,  to 
read  and  write,  and  to  study  the  catechism.  One  of 
these  ladies  was  gracious   and  amiable,  but   Margaret 

1  Croiset,  Abr/g/,  p.  3.  9  M6moire,  p.  290. 


44  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

fled  from  her.  The  other,  though  harsh  and  severe, 
failed  not  to  attract  the  little  pupil,  who  preferred  the 
rebuffs  of  the  one  to  the  caresses  of  the  other.  The 
sequel  will  show  that  this  surprising  conduct  was  owing 
to  one  of  those  secret  instincts  which  God  implants  in 
pure  hearts;  for  later  on  it  was  discovered  that  she  who 
appeared  so  gracious  was  not  all  that  she  seemed. 

Horror  of  evil,  desire  of  solitude,  flight  from  men, 
love  of  purity, — behold  the  first  impressions  engraven 
by  God  in  the  soul  of  this  holy  child,  now  in  her  sixth 
year!  To  perfect  the  picture  here  given,  we  must  add 
that  from  her  cradle  she  united  to  all  other  graces  a 
most  tender  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  "  I  had 
recourse  to  her,"  she  says,  "  in  all  my  needs,  and  she 
warded  off  great  dangers  from  me.  I  ventured  not  to 
address  myself  to  her  Son,  but  I  feared  not  to  go  to  her. 
I  offered  her  the  little  crown  of  the  Rosary  on  my  bare 
knees  on  the  ground,  or  else  I  made  as  many  genuflec- 
tions as  there  are  Ave  Marias,  or  I  kissed  the  ground  at 
each."  l  The  Blessed  Virgin  never  lets  herself  be  out- 
done in  love;  and,  from  her  earliest  childhood,  the  dear 
little  one  received  most  signal  graces. 

There  was  no  cure  for  Mme.  de  Fautriere's  malady. 
After  suffering  a  long  time,  she  died  in  1655,  and  little 
Margaret,  then  only  eight  years  old,  returned  to  her 
family.  Hardly  had  she  entered  Lhautecour  than  to 
this  first  misfortune  was  added  a  second,  though  of  a  far 
more  serious  nature.  Her  father  died  at  the  close  of  the 
same  year.2  Still  young,  scarcely  forty-one  years  old, 
bearing  the  unblemished  reputation  of  an  honest  man 
and  a  good  Christian,  he  left  a  young  widow  and  five 
little  children,  the  youngest  not  yet  six  years  old,  a  very 
moderate  fortune,  and  embarrassed  affairs.  It  appears 
that  this  excellent  man   knew  neither  how  to   pay  his 

1  Memoire,  p.  290. 

2  Memoire  of  Chrysostom  Alacoque:  "  the  said  M.  Alacoque  having 
died  in  1655,"  etc. 


Birth,  Childhood,  and  Youth.  45 

debts  nor  to  collect  his  dues.1  His  debts  were  few,  his 
creditors  many.  The  poor  widow  accepted  courageously 
the  care  of  her  five  children,  and  resolved  to  retrieve 
her  embarrassed  fortune.  But  as  this  necessitated  fre- 
quent journeys,  which  allowed  her  no  leisure  to  devote 
herself  to  her  children's  education,  she  placed  the  two 
eldest  sons  for  a  time  at  Cluny;  the  other  two  with 
their  uncle,  M.  Antoine  Alacoque,  cure  of  Verosvres; 
and  our  holy  child  was  sent  to  the  Poor  Clares  of 
Charolles. 

The  silence  of  this  sacred  cloister,  the  austerity  and 
continual  prayer  of  the  religious,  their  nocturnal  devo- 
tions, their  modesty  and  recollection,  made  an  extraor- 
dinary impression  upon  Margaret.  She  became  con- 
scious that  this  was  the  kind  of  life  God  desired  of  her. 
"  I  thought,"  she  said,  "  were  I  a  religious,  I  should  be- 
come holy  like  those  around  me.  I  conceived  so  great 
a  longing  for  the  life  that  I  breathed  but  for  it.  I  did 
not  find  the  convent  in  which  I  was,  retired  enough  for 
my  taste;  but  not  knowing  any  other,  I  thought  I  must 
remain  there."3  Let  us  note  this  new  feature.  This 
convent  of  Poor  Clares,  enclosed  by  austere  grates, 
shrouded  in  silence  and  fervor,  was  not  sufficiently  re- 
tired to  satisfy  the  craving  after  a  hidden  life  already 
experienced  by  this  young  child.  From  the  cradle  to 
the  tomb,  that  desire  of  hers  was  to  go  on  increasing. 

Hardly  had  she  entered  with  the  Poor  Clares,  when 
they  prepared  her  to  make  her  first  Communion.  She 
was  only  nine  years  old;  but  her  angelic  dispositions 
supplied  the  defect  of  age.  The  results  were  extraor- 
dinary. Margaret  was  gay,  lively,  naturally  given  to 
play  and  amusement;  but  from  this  day,  she  no  longer 
found  in  them  the  same   attraction.     "  This  first  Com- 

1  We  judge  of  this  from  the  fact  of  the  physician's  bill  sent  the  widow 
at  this  time.  It  comprised  the  accounts  of  the  entire  family  for  te? 
years.     These  accounts  are  at  the  Visitation  convent  of  Paray. 

8  Memoire,  p.  291. 


46  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

munion,"  she  said,  "infused  so  much  bitterness  into  all 
the  little  pleasures  and  amusements  of  my  age  that  I 
could  find  no  relish  in  them,  though  I  still  sought  them 
eagerly.  When  I  desired  to  share  my  companions'  games, 
I  always  felt  something  restraining  me,  something  that 
called  me  apart;  and  I  had  no  peace  until  I  obeyed. 
The  same  impulse  made  me  begin  to  pray,  almost  always, 
provided  I  was  not  seen,  on  my  bare  knees,  or  making 
genuflections.  To  be  observed  was  for  me  inconceivable 
torment."  * 

A  very  serious  illness  at  this  time  endangered  the 
child's  life,  and  obliged  her  family  to  withdraw  her 
from  the  Poor  Clares.  She  returned  to  Lhautecour, 
where  she  was  surrounded  with  the  tenderest  care  by 
her  mother  and  brothers,  who  loved  her  dearly.  They 
did  everything  to  promote  her  cure,  but  in  vain.  "  They 
could,"  said  she,  "  find  no  cure  for  my  malady  till  they 
gave  me  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  They  promised  her,  if 
I  were  cured,  I  should  some  day  be  one  of  her  daugh- 
ters. I  had  no  sooner  made  the  vow  than  I  was  cured. 
I  ever  after  experienced  the  Blessed  Virgin's  protection 
in  a  manner  altogether  marked,  as  of  one  belonging  en- 
tirely to  her."  This  was  the  first  public  sign  of  the 
special  love  of  God  for  the  holy  child.  She  was  deeply 
moved  by  it,  and  resolved  more  firmly  than  ever  to  be- 
long to  Him  without  reserve. 

During  the  solitary  hours  of  this  long  illness,  Mar- 
garet's thoughts  were  centred  in  God.  She  says:  "  I  felt 
strongly  attracted  to  prayer.  But  this  attraction  gave 
me  much  suffering,  as  I  was  unable  to  satisfy  it.  I  knew 
not  how  to  make  prayer,  and  I  had  no  one  to  teach  me. 
I  knew  nothing  more  of  it  than  the  name,  but  that  name 
itself  ravished  my  heart." 

Margaret  then  turned  to  God,  and  with  tears  conjured 
Him  to  teach  her  the  secret.  He  did  it  with  admirable 
goodness.  "  The  Sovereign  Master  taught  me  how  He 
wished  me  to  pray,  and    that  lesson   has  served   me  all 

1  M6morte    *n    t  r\\ 


Birth,  Childhood,  and  Youth.  47 

my  life.  He  made  me  prostrate  humbly  before  Him  to 
ask  pardon  for  everything  by  which  I  had  offended 
Him.  After  having  adored  Him,  I  offered  Him  my 
prayer  without  knowing  how  I  was  going  to  make  it. 
Then  He  presented  Himself  to  me  in  the  mystery  in 
which  He  wished  me  to  consider  Him.  He  applied  my 
mind  to  it  so  forcibly,  ingulfing  my  soul  and  all  my 
powers  in  Himself,  that  I  felt  no  distraction.  My  heart 
was  consumed  with  the  desire  of  loving  Him,  and  that 
gave  me  an  insatiable  hunger  after  holy  Communion 
and  sufferings."  ' 

God  was  about  to  hear  both  these  desires.  When 
Margaret  was  brought  back  ill  to  Lhautecour,  she  did 
not  notice  the  great  change  that  had  come  over  it.  The 
efforts  of  her  mother  to  retrieve  the  fortune  of  the 
family  had  not  been  successful.  A  new  lease  of  the 
land  had  been  made  in  the  name  of  the  minors.  It  was 
concluded  not  with  their  mother,  but  with  Toussaint 
Delaroche,  their  uncle,  who  had  summarily  enough  taken 
the  management  of  affairs.  His  wife  was  installed  abso- 
lute mistress  at  Lhautecour,  where  were  already  her 
grandmother,  Mme.  Alacoque,  nde  Delaroche,  and  hei 
daughter  Catharine,  who  was  not  married.  Little  by 
little,  the  poor  widow  had  been  pushed  aside  and  de- 
prived of  all  influence.  Whether  on  account  of  her 
incapacity  for  business,  or  that  the  family  held  her  re- 
sponsible for  their  straitened  circumstances,  she  received 
from  them  only  sharp  words  and  ill-humor.  Margaret 
tells  this  in  ambiguous  words,  without  mentioning  names. 
She  takes  extreme  precaution  not  to  reveal  the  guilty; 
but  from  the  restrained  emotion  with  which,  twenty  years 
after,  she  spoke  in  less  reserved  language,  we  can  under- 
stand what  a  soul  naturally  so  sensitive  and  impetuous 
as  hers  must  have  had  to  suffer. 

"  God  permitted  my  mother,"  she  says,  "  to  be  deprived 
of  authority  in  her  own  house,  and  to  be  forced  to  yield  it 
1  M6moire,  p.  291. 


48   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

to  others.  Those  in  charge  so  lorded  it  over  her  that 
both  she  and  I  were  soon  reduced  to  a  state  of  captivity. 
It  is  not  my  intention  in  what  I  am  going  to  say  to 
blame  those  persons.  I  do  not  wish  to  think  that  they 
did  wrong  in  making  me  suffer.  Far  from  me  such  a 
thought,  my  God  !  I  regard  them  rather  as  instruments 
of  whom  God  made  use  to  accomplish  His  holy  will. 
We  had  no  freedom  in  our  own  house,  and  we  dared  do 
nothing  without  permission.  It  was  a  continual  war. 
Everything  was  under  lock  and  key,  so  that  I  could  not 
even  find  my  apparel  when  I  wished  to  goto  holy  Mass. 
I  was  even  obliged  to  borrow  clothes.  I  felt  this  slavery 
keenly,  I  must  acknowledge."  The  pain  of  such  a  posi- 
tion was  still  more  increased  by  odious  suspicions.  "  It 
was  at  this  time,"  says  she,  "  that  with  all  my  strength 
I  sought  my  consolation  in  the  Most  Blessed  Sacrament 
of  the  Altar.  But  being  in  a  country-house  far  from 
church,  I  could  not  go  there  without  the  consent  of 
these  same  persons;  and  it  so  happened  that  the  per- 
mission granted  by  one  was  often  withheld  by  the  other. 
When  my  tears  showed  the  pain  I  felt,  they  accused  me 
of  having  made  an  appointment  with  some  one,  saying 
that  I  concealed  it  under  the  pretext  of  going  to  Mass 
or  Benediction.  This  was  most  unjust,  fori  would  have 
consented  rather  to  see  myself  cut  into  a  thousand 
pieces  than  to  entertain  such  thoughts."  ! 

"  Not  knowing  where  to  seek  refuge,"  she  adds,  ;<  I 
hid  myself  in  a  retired  corner  of  the  garden,  in  the 
stable,  or  in  some  other  out-of-the-way  place  where  I 
could,  unobserved,  kneel  and  pour  out  my  heart  in  tears 
before  God.  This  I  always  did  through  my  good  Mother, 
the  most  Blessed  Virgin,  in  whom  I  had  placed  all  my 
confidence.  I  remained  there  entire  days  without  eat- 
ing or  drinking.  Sometimes  the  poor  villagers,  pitying 
my  condition,  gave  me  in  the  evening  a  little  fruit  or 
milk.     When  I  ventured  to  return  to  the  house,  it  was 

1  Memorie,  p.  292. 


Birth,  Childhood,  mid  Youth.  49 

with  such  fear  and  trembling  as,  it  seems  to  me,  a  poor 
criminal  endures  when  about  to  receive  sentence  of  con- 
demnation." 1 

She  adds:  "I  should  have  esteemed  myself  much 
more  happy  begging  from  door  to  door  the  bread  which 
frequently  I  dare  not  take  from  the  table,  than  living  in 
this  way.  The  moment  I  entered  the  house,  the  bat- 
teries were  opened  more  fiercely  than  ever.  I  was  re- 
proached with  neglecting  the  house  and  the  children  of 
those  dear  benefactors  of  my  soul.3  I  was  not  allowed 
to  say  one  word.  The  night  I  passed  as  I  had  done  the 
day,  pouring  out  tears  at  the  foot  of  my  crucifix." 

But  this  was  not  yet  Margaret's  greatest  trial.  She 
loved  her  mother  tenderly  ;  consequently,  she  suffered 
fearfully  at  seeing  her  thus  humbled  in  her  own  house. 
"  The  rudest  cross  I  had  to  bear  was  my  inability  to  alle- 
viate my  mother's  trials.  They  were  a  thousand  times 
harder  for  me  than  my  own.  I  dared  not  even  console 
her  by  a  word,  fearing  to  offend  God  by  taking  pleasure 
in  talking  over  our  troubles.  But  it  was  in  my  beloved 
mother's  sickness  that  my  affliction  became  extreme. 
She  suffered  much  from  being  left  to  my  care  and  little 
services.  Necessary  nourishment  was  withheld  from  her 
by  our  jailers,  and  I  was  forced  to  beg  from  the  villagers 
eggs  and  other  things  suitable  for  the  sick.  This  was  a 
special  torment  to  me,  for  I  was  naturally  timid,  and  I 
was  frequently  received  very  rudely."  s 

It  is  useless  to  add  that   God   never  abandons  His 

1  Memoire,  p.  293. 

2  No,  net  the  children  of  the  married  domestics,  as  some  historians 
ignorant  of  the  process  of  her  canonization  have  imagined.  In  that 
process  we  see  that  those  dear  benefactors  of  her  soul  "  were  the  mem- 
bets  of  her  own  family."  (Proces,  p.  54.)  We  have  named  them 
£.bove.  The  children  here  in  question  were  the  four  little  ones  of 
Toussaint  Delaroche — John,  Margaret  (to  whom  our  saint  was  god- 
mother), Antony,  and  Jane  Gabrielle.  The  eldest  was  eight  years  old, 
and  the  youngest  three. 

8  Memoire,  p.  293. 


50  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

faithful  servants  in  such  sorrows.  On  one  particular 
occasion,  when  her  mother  was  ill  of  erysipelas  in  its 
worst  form,  a  young  village  physician  was  called  in. 
He  bled  her,  but  said  on  leaving  that  nothing  short  of  a 
miracle  could  save  her  life.  The  holy  child,  not  know- 
ing what  else  to  do,  ran  to  the  church.  It  was  the  feast 
of  the  Circumcision.  Margaret  implored  God  with  tears 
to  be  Himself  her  poor  mother's  physician.  We  do  not 
know  exactly  how  the  thing  happened,  for  the  saint's 
humble  recital  is  full  of  reserve.  But  when  she  returned 
home,  she  found  that  the  swelling  of  her  mother's  cheek 
had  disappeared  ;  and,  contrary  to  all  human  appear- 
ances, the  wound  healed  in  a  few  days.1 

Behold  in  what  hard  trials  Margaret's  childhood 
passed  !  She  was  now  scarcely  fifteen.  Happily,  suf- 
fering, humiliations,  and  contempt  are  no  obstacles  to 
sanctity  ;  they  are,  on  the  contrary,  when  accepted  by 
the  soul,  the  most  active  and  powerful  agents  thereto. 
Persecuted,  humbled,  almost  driven  from  her  home,  the 
pious  child  sought  refuge  in  God.  She  prayed  inces- 
santly, and  began  at  this  tender  age  to  practise  most 
austere  penances.  Her  brother  Chrysostom  asserts  that 
from  her  earliest  childhood  she  was  not  satisfied  with 
long  prayer  in  church.  The  deponent  often  found  her 
praying  on  her  knees2  in  retired  corners  of  the  house. 
She  practised,  he  affirmed,  almost  from  infancy,  many 
austerities  and  macerations,  as  fasting,  iron  chains,  dis- 
ciplines, and  cinctures.  These  last  often  penetrated  the 
flesh.  She  slept  on  a  plank,  and  passed  the  night  in 
prayer.  The  servants  of  M.  Alacoque  declared  that  she 
sometimes  forgot  to  go  to  bed,  and  that  they  often 
found  her  on  her  knees. 

To  sustain  her  in  such  trials,  the  Lord  began  to  ap- 
pear to  her.  She  was  not  astonished,  for  she  believed 
that  others  were  favored  in  the  same  way.     It  was  or- 

1  Memoire,  p.  295. 

9  Proc&s  of  1 71 5,  Deposition  of  Chrysostom. 


Births  Childhood,  and  Youth.  51 

dinarily  "  under  the  form  of  the  Crucified,  or  of  the  Ecce 
Homo,  or  as  carrying  His  cross."  This  sight  roused  her 
soul  to  iove  so  great,  that  the  hardships  she  endured, 
the  slavery,  contempt,  beggary,  and  even  the  blows  she 
received,  appeared  to  her  light  and  sweet.  "  Some- 
times," said  she,  "when  they  were  about  to  strike  me,  I 
was  distressed  that  their  raised  hands  were  stayed,  and 
that  they  did  not  exercise  upon  me  all  their  strength. 
I  felt  constantly  urged  to  render  all  sorts  of  good  ser- 
vices to  these  persons,  as  to  the  true  friends  of  my  soul. 
I  had  no  greater  pleasure  than  to  do  and  say  all  the 
good  I  could  of  them."  ] 

Let  no  one  imagine  that  Margaret  was  one  of  those 
cold,  apathetic  natures  that  feel  nothing.  She  was,  on 
the  contrary,  extremely  tender  and  sensitive.  She  felt 
keenly  the  slightest  want  of  attention,  and  expanded 
like  a  delicate  flower  under  the  least  proof  of  affection. 
Her  innate  pride  rendered  such  a  life  insupportable. 
She  was  gay,  sprightly,  intelligent,  and  fond  of  pleasure 
to  a  degree  that  might  at  any  moment  have  exposed  her 
to  serious  danger  in  the  world.  But  she  repeats  on 
every  page  of  her  Memoire  that  it  is  not  she  that  is  act- 
ing thus,  it  is  her  Sovereign  Lord,  who  was  making 
Himself  master  of  her  soul,  and  directing  her  in  all 
things. 

It  was,  above  all,  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament  that  she 
turned  for  consolation  and  strength.  As  soon  as  a  free 
moment  was  hers,  she  ran,  or  rather  she  flew,  to  the 
church  ;  and  once  inside  the  door,  she  could  no  longer 
restrain  her  footsteps.  Love  impelled  her  to  the  foot 
of  the  altar,  and  she  could  never  get  near  enough  to 
the  tabernacle.  "  I  was  wholly  unable  to  recite  vocal 
prayers  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament,"  said  she,  "  and 
once  in  its  presence  I  became  so  absorbed  that  I  knew 
no  weariness.  I  could  have  passed  days  and  nights 
before  it  without  eating  or  drinking.  I  do  not  know 
1  Memoire,  p.  295. 


52    Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

exactly  how  I  employed  those  moments.  I  only  know 
that,  like  a  burning  taper,  I  was  consumed  in  its  pres- 
ence, rendering  Jesus  love  for  love.  I  could  not  remain 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  church,  and,  despite  the  con- 
fusion it  might  cause  me,  I  had  to  draw  as  near  as  I 
could  to  the  altar  on  which  reposed  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment. And  yet  I  did  not  think  myself  happy  even 
there.  I  envied  those  that  could  communicate  fre- 
quently, and  that  were  free  to  remain  long  in  the  Sacra- 
mental Presence.  I  tried  to  gain  the  friendship  of  such 
persons,  that  I  might  enjoy  the  privilege  ot  going  with 
them  to  spend  some  moments  with  Jesus  Christ  in  this 
mystery."  ' 

Margaret  did  not  always  succeed  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  desire  just  expressed.  As  we  have  seen, 
"the  consent  of  three  persons  was  necessary,  and  what 
one  granted  the  others  refused."  On  such  occasions 
the  pious  child  ran  to  hide  herself  in  some  corner  of  the 
garden,  to  pray  and  weep  before  God.  There  was  one 
spot  specially  dear  to  her.  Some  steps  west  of  the 
house  a  steep  declivity,  clothed  with  a  little  thicket,  led 
down  to  a  very  deep  vale.  It  may  have  been  in  far-off 
times,  when  our  globe  was  a  mere  molten  mass,  a  pas- 
sage of  burning  lava,  or  a  torrent  of  water  ;  for  its 
remains  might  be  a  monument  of  either.  It  consisted 
of  an  immense  block  of  granite  of  extraordinary  dimen- 
sions, left  there  by  the  flow,  unable  to  drag  it  farther. 
Our  holy  child  loved  this  solitary  spot,  which  was  just 
on  the  boundary  of  her  own  garden,  and  there  she  often 
took  refuge.  Protected  behind,  and,  as  it  were,  veiled 
by  the  thicket  at  the  side  of  the  house,  it  had  directly 
in  view  the  apsis  containing  the  main  altar  of  the 
church,  which  was  less  than  half  a  mile  distant.  From 
this  block  of  granite,  however,  the  ground  rises  so 
rapidly  to  the  church  that  one  might  think  the  distance 
less  ;  it  seems  to  be  only  a  few  steps  across  the  valley. 

1  M^moire,  p.  297. 


Birth,  Childhood,  and  Youth.  53 

At  night  the  little  lamp  burning  before  the  tabernacle 
could  be  seen  from  the  windows  of  the  Alacoque  man- 
sion. It  was  there  that  her  Lord  and  Master  dwelt, 
despoiled  of  glory,  abandoned  by  creatures,  a  thousand 
times  more  neglected  and  humiliated  than  she  could 
ever  be.  Such  thoughts  made  her  heart  melt  into  love. 
Tears  welled  up  and,  leaning  on  the  granite  block,  her 
eyes  and  heart  riveted  on  the  tabernacle,  Margaret  was 
lost  for  hours  in  contemplation. 


54  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER    III. 

MARGARET'S  VOCATION— SHE  ENTERS  THE  VISITATION 

OF  PARAY. 

1662-1671. 

"  In  charitate  perpetua  dilexi  te." 

"  I  have  loved  thee  with  an  everlasting  love." — Jeremias  xxxi.  3. 

"  Posuit  signum  in  faciem  meam,  ut  nullum  praeter  eum  amatorem 
admittam." 

"  He  has  placed  His  seal  upon  my  forehead,  that  I  may  admit  no 
lover  but  Himself." — Rom.  Brev,  Ant.  of  St.  Agnes. 

HUS  grew  in  the  solitude  of  Lhautecour,  beauti- 
ful and  pure,  hidden  from  all  eyes,  even  from 
those  of  her  kinsmen,  the  holy  child  whom  God 
had  chosen  for  things  so  great.  She  herself  was  more 
ignorant  than  others  of  what  was  being  done  in  her. 
She  breathed  only  for  God.  Her  only  ambition  was 
"  to  be  consumed  in  HLs  presence  like  a  burning  taper, 
and  so  return  Him  love  for  love." 

From  such  a  life  to  the  cloister  there  is  but  one  step  ; 
and  we  might  expect  to  see  Margaret  take  it  without 
one  regret  for  a  world  of  which  she  knew  naught  but  its 
trials,  and  from  which  she  could  part  without  even  a 
sigh.  But  had  such  been  the  case,  her  vocation  would 
have  been  void  of  sacrifice,  would  have  had  neither  in 
the  eyes  of  God  nor  of  man  its  true  value- 
It  so  happened  that,  as  Margaret  entered  her  seven- 
teenth year,  the  circumstances  of  her  surroundings 
entirely  changed.  Her  eldest  brothers,  having  arrived 
at  the  age  of  manhood,  took  charge  of  the  business 
and  restored  their  mother  to  the  position  and  influence 
of  which  she  had  been  deprived.  On  the  other  hand, 
Toussaint  Delaroche,  who  had  probably  died,  for  we 
no  longer  find  mention  of  him,  had   in  his  ten  years' 


Margaret  enters  the  Visitation  of  Par  ay.  55 

rather  arbitrary,  though  intelligent,  administration  re- 
trieved the  compromised  affairs  of  the  family.  Free- 
dom came  with  this  change  of  fortune  ;  and  that 
gayety  generally  found  where  six  or  seven  children  are 
just  stepping  from  childhood  into  youth  once  more 
shed  its  genial  influence  over  the  Alacoque  home.  In 
the  country  the  young  marry  at  an  early  age,  especially 
the  members  of  large  families.  Margaret  was  only 
seventeen,  and  already  several  good  offers  had  been 
made  her.  Her  eldest  brother,  now  two-and-twenty 
and  the  head  of  the  family,  needed  a  companion.  "  All 
this,"  says  our  saint,  "brought  to  our  home  much  com- 
pany whom  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  meet."  Inter- 
course with  society  commenced,  and  more  brilliantly, 
perhaps,  than  her  first  historians  suspect.  When  we 
read  the  baptismal  register  of  Margaret's  brothers  and 
sisters,  we  see  that  almost  all  had  for  sponsors  the  most 
noble  lords  and  ladies  of  the  neighboring  castles. 
Margaret,  we  remember,  had  been  held  over  the  font  by 
Mme.  de  Fautrieres  ;  and  although  she  was  dead,  we 
cannot  believe  that  the  holy  child  ceased  all  communi- 
cation with  the  castle  of  Corcheval.  Her  brother 
Claude  Philibert  had  for  godmother  Lady  Couronne 
d'Apchon,  widow  of  John  le  Roux,  Lord  of  Terreau.1 
One  of  her  sisters  was  carried  to  holy  baptism  by  Lady 
Gilberte  Areloup,  Baronne  Despres.  It  is  the  same  with 
all  the  others,  whose  god-parents  belonged  to  the  best 
families  of  Charolais.  Mme.  Alacoque,  desirous  of 
settling  her  children  in  life,  began  to  bring  them  out  a 
little  and  to   receive  visitors  at  her  own  house.     Mar- 

1  Couronne  d'Apchon,  widow  of  John  le  Roux,  married  for  second 
husband  John  Areloup,  a  gentleman  squire  of  the  king's  chamber. 
Baron  of  Saint-Peruse.  By  this  marriage  he  became  Lord  of  Terreau, 
She  had  an  only  daughter,  Gilberte  Areloup  Lady  of  Terreau. 
who  was  married  in  1640  to  M.  Claude  de  Thibaut  de  Noblet, 
Chevalier,  Baron  Depres,  etc.  Their  son  and  heir,  Pierre  de  Thibaut 
de  Noblet,  was  by  the  king  created  Marquis  Despr6s. 


5 6    Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

garet  saw  at  once  that  she  was  much  noticed  and 
sought  after.  And  what  is  singular  and  almost  inex- 
plicable is  that  this  young  girl  who  had  been  so  strong 
in  the  midst  of  adversity,  whom  neither  contempt  nor 
humiliations  could  daunt,  scarcely  beheld  the  world 
smiling  upon  her,  when  she  began  to  adorn  herself  to 
please  it.  She  delighted  in  pleasure-parties,  she 
shortened  her  prayers,  she  remained  from  confession, 
and  her  soul  gradually  sank  from  the  height  to  which 
it  had  been  elevated  in  early  childhood.  "  I  began  to 
see  the  world  and  to  dress  to  please  it,  and  I  tried  to 
amuse  myself  as  much  as  I  could."  1 

Happily,  God  watched  over  this  soul  upon  which  He 
had  designs  so  great.  "  But  Thou,  my  God,"  she  con- 
tinues, "  hadst  other  designs  than  those  that  I  formed 
in  my  heart.  Thou  didst  make  known  to  me  that  it 
was  hard  to  kick  against  the  powerful  goad  of  Thy  love. 
My  malice  and  infidelity  made  me  use  every  effort  and 
all  my  strength  to  resist  its  attraction  and  extinguish 
within  me  its  movements.  But  in  vain  !  In  the  midst 
of  company  and  amusements,  divine  love  pierced  me 
with  darts  so  inflamed  that  they  seemed  entirely  to 
consume  my  heart.  The  pain  stunned  me,  and  yet  it 
did  not  suffice  to  detach  a  heart  so  ungrateful  as  mine, 
f  felt  as  if  bound  with  cords,  and  so  forcibly  drawn 
that  I  was,  at  last,  forced  to  follow  Him  who  was  call- 
ing me.  He  led  me  aside  and  severely  reproved  me. 
Alas!  He  seemed  jealous  of  this  miserable  heart."2 

Touched  by  such  love,  Margaret  prostrated  on  the 
ground,  begged  pardon,  and  took  a  long  and  severe 
discipline.  "In  spite  of  all  this,"  she  adds,  "  I  failed 
not  to  plunge  again  into  vanity,  and  again  I  offered  the 
same  resistance." 

One  day   during    the  carnival    she  masked    to    take 
part  with  several  of  her  friends  in  a  ball  to  which  she 
had   been   invited.      What   tears    she    shed    to    expiate 
1  Memoire,  p.  299.  2  Ibid. 


Margaret  enters  the  Visitation  of  Par  ay.   57 

"  her  great  sin,"  as  she  called  it!  What  fasts  and 
macerations!  And  still,  wonderful  to  say,  Margaret  had 
not  yet  conquered  herself.  Still  bleeding  from  her 
self-imposed  discipline,  she  began  again  to  smile  upon 
the  world. 

It  was  on  her  return  from  this  ball  that  the  Lord 
awaited  her.  "That  evening,"  she  says,  "as  I  was 
taking  off  Satan's  accursed  livery,  for  thus  I  term  my 
vain  adornments,  my  Sovereign  Master  presented  Him- 
self before  me  all  disfigured  as  He  was  during  His 
flagellation.  He  reproached  me,  saying  that  it  was  my 
vanity  which  had  reduced  Him  to  such  a  state  ;  that  I 
was  losing  infinitely  precious  time  of  which  He  would 
demand  of  me  a  rigorous  account  at  the  hour  of  death  ; 
and  that  I  had  betrayed  and  persecuted  Him  after  He 
had  given  me  so  many  proofs  of  His  love.  This  made 
so  strong  an  impression  upon  me  and  wounded  my 
heart  so  painfully  that  I  wept  bitter  tears."  ' 

Then,  taking  God's  part  against  herself,  jealous  of 
seeing  such  love  despised  by  so  wretched  a  creature, 
feeling  that  there  was  no  torment  that  she  did  not 
deserve  and  that  she  could  not  endure,  Margaret  un- 
covered her  shoulders  and  disciplined  them  to  blood. 
"To  avenge  in  some  manner  on  myself  the  injury  I  had 
done  Him,  I  bound  this  miserable,  criminal  body  with 
knotted  cords,  which  I  drew  so  tightly  that  I  could 
hardly  breathe  or  eat.  I  kept  them  on  so  long  that 
they  ate  into  my  flesh.  It  was  only  by  force  and  at  the 
cost  of  cruel  suffering  that  I  could  get  them  off  again. 
It  was  the  same  with  the  little  chains  that  I  clasped 
around  my  arms.  I  could  not  remove  them  without 
tearing  off  with  them  pieces  of  flesh.  I  slept  on  planks, 
or  strewed  my  bed  with  sharp  sticks."  But  Margaret 
never  spoke  of  these  things.  She  so  carefully  hid  her 
macerations  that  no  one  suspected  them.  Although  in 
the  flower  of  her  age  and  the  freshness  of  youth,  they 
1  MSmoire,  p.  300. 


5  8   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

saw  her,  without  apparent  cause,  "  suddenly  grow  pale 
and  thin."1 

Let  us  remark  that,  on  hearing  the  saints  speaking 
thus  bitterly  of  trifling  faults,  which  they  expiated  so 
cruelly,  we  are  sometimes  tempted  to  think  them  more 
guilty  than  they  are.  But  in  our  saint's  case  there  was 
nothing  in  her  first  experience  of  the  world  and  its 
pleasures  to  tarnish  the  immaculate  purity  of  her 
heart.  At  twenty  Margaret  was  innocent  as  a  child. 
She  abhorred  the  idea  of  marriage,  and  the  thought 
of  the  slightest  sin  against  holy  purity  forced  tears 
from  her  eyes.  Several  witnesses  in  the  process  of 
her  canonization  solemnly  affirmed  that  she  ever  pre- 
served baptismal  innocence.  In  default  of  such  wit- 
nesses, it  would  suffice  to  open  her  Memoire.  One 
cannot  read  it  without  seeing  at  once  the  embodiment 
of  Bossuet's  beautiful  illustration  of  the  pure  of  heart. 
Let  us,  borrowing  from  him,  say  that,  from  the  cradle 
to  the  grave,  Margaret's  heart  resembled  those  beautiful 
streams  one  comes  upon  among  the  mountains  of  her 
native  Burgundy.  Hidden  in  deep  caverns,  over- 
shadowed by  the  vast  horizon,  they  offer  to  the  traveller 
limpid  waters  whose  crystalline  purity  is  ruffled  by  no 
breath. 

Protected  by  her  innocence,  Margaret  would  have 
triumphed  sooner  over  the  seductions  of  the  world,  had 
not  the  thought  of  her  mother,  whom  she  so  tenderly 
loved  and  whom  by  her  marriage  she  could  extricate 
from  many  difficulties,  shaken  her  purpose.  "  My 
relations,"  said  she,  "  and  especially  my  dear  mother, 
urged  me  incessantly  to  marry.  She  wept  as  she  told 
me  that  she  saw  no  hope  of  release  from  her  misery 
except  in  me;  that  she  would  find  her  consolation  in 
being  with  me,  as  soon  as  I  should  be  settled  in  the 
world.  On  the  other  hand,  God's  voice  pursued  me  so 
vehemently   that   I    had    no  peace.     My  vow  was  ever 

1  MSmoire,  p.  301. 


Margaret  enters  the  Visitation  of  Par  ay.   59 

before  my  eyes  with  the  thought  that,  if  I  violated  it,  I 
should  be  punished  with  frightful  torments." 

Truly,  the  battle  was  begun;  and  as  the  contest  was 
between  the  two  greatest  and  most  powerful  loves  on 
earth,  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  a  mother,  it  was  to 
be  terrible.  "  O  my  God!"  cried  out  Margaret,  "  Thou 
alone  wast  witness  of  the  length  of  the  fearful  combat 
that  I  suffered  interiorly.  I  should  have  yielded  with- 
out the  extraordinary  assistance  of  Thy  mercy." 

She  continues:  "The  devil,  taking  advantage  of  my 
love  for  my  mother,  incessantly  represented  to  me  the 
tears  she  shed;  told  me  that  if  I  became  a  religious  I 
should  cause  her  to  die  of  grief;  and  that  I  should  have 
to  answer  for  it  to  God,  since  she  was  entirely  depend- 
ent on  my  care.  This  thought  was  insupportable,  for 
our  mutual  love  was  so  tender  that  we  could  not  live 
apart.  At  the  same  time,  the  desire  to  be  a  religious 
and  to  live  a  life  of  perfect  purity  pursued  me  without 
intermission.  All  this  made  me  suffer  a  true  martyr- 
dom. I  had  no  rest,  I  was  constantly  in  tears;  and 
having  no  one. to  whom  I  could  disclose  my  grief,  I 
knew  not  how  to  act.  At  last,  my  love  for  my  mother 
began  to  gain  the  ascendency." ' 

Ah,  how  touching  is  this  last  word!  The  spectacle  is 
the  same  as  that  which  we  admire  a  thousand  times  in 
the  history  of  St.  Chantal.  It  is  ever  in  souls  the  most 
noble,  the  purest,  that  lies  the  source  of  the  deepest 
tenderness;  and  never  do  the  higher,  the  legitimate 
affections  more  freely  expand,  produce  more  beautiful 
flowers,  more  delicious  fruits,  than  when  forced  in  the 
hot-house  of  a  heart  warmed  by  the  love  of  God. 

But  even  Margaret's  heart,  so  long  turned  to  God, 
filial  tenderness  was  about  to  mislead.  She  began  to 
examine  the  terms  of  her  vow.  She  had  made  it  when 
only  a  very  little  child,  wholly  unconscious  of  what  she 
was  doing:  was  she,  then,  bound  by  it?  Could  she  not 
1  M6moire,  p.  301. 


60   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

readily  obtain  a  dispensation  ?  She  would  ask  for  it. 
Then  she  examined  the  religious  state.  It  was  too  high 
for  her;  she  could  never  reach  its  perfection.  By  em- 
bracing it,  she  would  lose  the  liberty  of  performing 
penances  and  charities.  By  such  reasoning  she  was 
strongly  tempted  to  renounce  it  altogether. 

Three  or  four  years,  from  1663  to  1667,  passed  in  these 
terrible  alternations  between  the  world  and  God.  At 
the  end  of  this  period,  as  Margaret  was  entering  her 
twentieth  year,  she  felt  the  desire  of  being  a  religious 
rekindle  within  her.  "  My  desire  became  so  ardent," 
she  said,  "  that  I  resolved  to  execute  it  at  any  cost." 
She  had  constantly  before  her  the  beauty  of  the  virtues, 
particularly  of  humility,  voluntary  poverty,  and  chas- 
tity. She  read  the  lives  of  the  saints  with  delight  ;  but 
she  avoided  those  of  the  greatest  servants  of  God,  whose 
heroism  she  felt  unable  to  imitate.  Opening  the  book, 
she  would  say  :  "  Let  me  look  for  a  saint  easy  to  imitate, 
that  I  may  do  as  she  did."  But  hardly  had  she  begun 
to  read  before  her  tears  flowed  abundantly,  on  seeing 
that  the  saint  had  not  offended  God  as  she  herself  had 
done,  or  that  she  had  spent  long  years  in  penance.1 

Convinced  that  she  could  never  love  God  as  He  de- 
serves to  be  loved,  Margaret  resolved  to  devote  hersell 
to  the  service  of  the  poor.  She  so  compassionated  their 
miseries  that,  had  it  been  in  her  power,  she  would  have 
retained  nothing  for  herself.  "  When  I  had  any  money," 
said  she,  "  I  gave  it  to  some  poor  little  ones,  to  induce 
them  to  come  and  learn  from  me  their  prayers  and 
catechism  ;  and  they  flocked  to  me  in  such  crowds  that 
in  winter  I  knew  not  where  to  put  them."  For  this 
purpose,  she  made  use  of  a  large  room  still  existing  and 
which  formed  part  of  the  second  building  of  her  home. 
It  was  reached  by  an  exterior  stairway.  It  is  in  the 
middle  of  this  chamber  that  Margaret's  little  cell  is 
found. 

1  Memoire,  p.  301. 


Margaret  enters  the  Visitation  of  Par  ay,   61 

Sometimes  when  her  brother  saw  the  crowd  of  poor 
children  crossing  the  courtyard,  he  would  say  to  his 
sister  pleasantly,  i*  Sister  dear,  are  you  going  to  be  a 
school-mistress  ?"  "  Ah,  brother!"  she  would  reply, "  who 
will  instruct  these  poor  little  ones  if  I  do  not?"1  Or 
again,  her  old  aunt  Catharine  grumbled,  and  unfeel- 
ingly chased  the  children  away.  "  They  thought  I 
would  give  to  the  poor  all  I  could  lay  hands  on;  but  that 
I  would  not  dare  to  do,  for  fear  of  committing  theft.  I 
was  obliged  to  coax  and  pet  my  mother,  to  obtain  from 
her  leave  to  give  what  I  had.  As  she  loved  me  dearly 
she  readily  granted  the  permission."  a 

Margaret  was  not  satisfied  with  loving  and  instructing 
the  poor  little  ones;  she  went  to  visit  their  families, 
especially  when  any  of  the  members  were  ill.  Delicate 
and  sensitive,  with  a  horror  of  everything  unsightly, 
trembling  in  presence  of  a  wound,  never  can  we  fully 
appreciate  her  efforts  to  overcome  herself,  or  know  what 
heroic  acts  she  performed  in  this  ministry.  She  spoke 
few  words  on  the  subject,  but  those  few  reveal  prodigies 
of  courage;  and  even  under  the  reserve  of  a  recital  im- 
posed by  obedience,  we  discover  miraculous  cures.  "  I 
had  extreme  repugnance  to  look  at  wounds.  I  had  to 
begin  by  dressing  and  even  kissing  them,  in  order  to 
overcome  myself.  I  was  very  ignorant  as  to  how  I 
should  proceed  in  this  duty;  but  my  Divine  Master  so 
well  supplied  for  my  want  of  knowledge  that,  although 
the  wounds  might  be  very  serious,  they  healed  in  a 
short  time.  I  had,  consequently,  more  confidence  in  H.s 
goodness  than  in  my  own  remedies."  3 

In  the  midst  of  such  occupations,  her  lively  and  ar 
dent  nature  still  inclined  to  pleasure.     "  I  was  naturally 
given  to  the  love  of  pleasure  and  amusement  ;  but   I 
could  not  indulge  my  inclinations,  although  I  frequently 
sought  to  do  so.     But  the  pitiful  sight  of  the  Lord,  who 

1  Process  of  171 5,  Chrysostom's  Deposition. 
9  Memoire,  p.  302.  3  lb.,  p.  303. 


62  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

presented  Himself  to  me  covered  with  the  blood  of  His 
flagellation,  prevented  my  following  oat  my  intention:: 
He  reproached  me  in  words  that  pierced  me  to  the 
heart:  'Dost  thou  sigh  for  pleasure?  /  never  tasted 
any.  I  gave  Myself  up  to  all  sorts  of  bitterness  for  thy 
love  and  to  gain  thy  heart, — and  thou  dost  still  wish  to 
dispute  it  with  Me!'  "  At  such  words,  Margaret  desisted. 
Although  for  several  days  after  she  was  filled  with  con- 
fusion, she  gradually  resumed  her  search  after  vanities. 
"  One  day,"  she  says,  "  when  I  was  lost  in  astonishment 
that  so  many  defects  and  infidelities  were  not  sufficient 
to  repel  my  Lord,  He  made  me  this  reply  :  *  It  is  be- 
cause I  am  desirous  of  making  of  thee  a  compound  of 
My  love  and  mercy.'  "  ' 

"  On  another  occasion  He  said  to  me  :  '  I  have  chosen 
thee  for  My  spouse,  and  thou  didst  promise  fidelity 
when  thou  didst  make  to  Me  the  vow  of  chastity.  It 
was  I  who  urged  thee  to  make  it  before  the  world  had 
any  share  in  thy  heart,  for  I  wished  to  possess  it  pure 
and  unsullied  by  any  earthly  affection.'  " 

Who  would  not  believe  that  a  heart  like  Margaret's, 
so  pure,  indeed  so  angelic,  endowed  with  such  gen- 
erosity, would  not  enthusiastically  respond  to  these 
tender  and  magnificent  advances  ?  Nevertheless,  even 
at  this  moment  she  hesitated  ;  and  never,  perhaps,  in 
this  terrible  struggle  of  four  years  had  she  been  more 
strongly  tempted  to  yield.  It  was  because  serious 
events  had  changed  the  prospects  of  her  family.  Her 
two  eldest  brothers  died  one  after  the  other  in  the  prime 
of  life.  John,  the  oldest  of  all  the  children,  he  who  on 
reaching  his  majority  had  taken  charge  of  the  business 
and  restored  to  his  cherished  mother  her  position  and 
influence,  was  the  first  taken.  He  died  in  1663,  at  the 
age  of  three-and-twenty,  leaving  the  entire  charge  of 
his  affairs  to  his  brother  Claude  Philibert.  Two  years 
after,  September,  1665,  the  latter  followed  him  to  the 
tomb,  at  the  same  fatal  age  of  twenty-three.     There  re- 

1  Memoire.  o,  304, 


Margaret  enters  the  Visitation  of  Paray.  63 

mained  now  only  Margaret  and  her  two  brothers  :  Chry- 
sostom,  whom  we  have  already  met,  and  James,  the 
youngest  of  all,  who  was  preparing  for  Holy  Orders 
Becoming  thus  sole  proprietor  of  the  estate  of  Lhautecoui 
and  head  of  the  family,  Chrysostom  thought  of  marry- 
ing. In  1667,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-two,  he  married 
Angelique  Aumonier,  of  a  good  family  of  the  Charolais. 
It  is  thought  that  it  was  for  this  occasion  the  pictures 
which  decorate  the  house  were  painted.  It  is  at  least 
singular  that,  at  the  period  in  which  we  see  the  tomb 
of  the  two  elder  brothers  opened  and  the  wedding  of 
the  third  celebrated,  we  find  among  these  allegorical 
paintings  two  coffins  surmounted  by  weeping  cupids 
with  inverted  torches,  and  opposite  another  represen- 
tation of  cupids  lighting  the  hymeneal  flame. 

Chrysostom  married,  and  Margaret's  friends  deter- 
mined to  make  a  last  effort  to  induce  her  to  do  the 
same.  Her  mother,  with  the  remembrance  of  past  suf- 
ferings, did  not  care  to  remain  in  a  house  ruled  by  a 
daughter-in-law.  With  tears  she  implored  Margaret  to 
come  to  some  decision,  and  to  take  her  to  live  with  her. 
At  the  same  time  the  youngest  son,  James,  who  was  pre- 
paring for  Holy  Orders,  offered  his  sister  half  his  patri- 
mony as  a  dowry.  Finally,  Chrysostom,  now  head  of 
the  family  and  Margaret's  guardian,  declared  it  time  for 
her  to  take  a  partner  for  life.  The  attack  was  so  violent 
that  our  saintly  young  girl  was  on  the  point  of  yielding. 
"  I  could  no  longer  withstand,"  she  said,  "  the  importu- 
nities of  my  relatives,  nor  the  tears  of  a  mother  who 
loved  me  tenderly,  and  who  represented  to  me  that  at 
twenty  a  girl  ought  to  take  a  husband.  The  devil, 
too,  did  his  part.  He  whispered  to  me  continually: 
1  Poor  miserable  creature,  of  what  are  you  thinking  in 
wishing  to  become  a  religious?  You  will  make  yourself 
a  laughing-stock  to  the  world,  for  you  will  never  per- 
severe. What  a  disgrace  to  take  off  the  religious  habit 
and  leave  the  convent !     Where  will  you  turn  to  hide 


64  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

yourself  after  that?'  I  began,  then,  to  share  my 
mother's  sentiments  with  regard  to  remaining  in  the 
world,  though  my  horror  of  marriage  was  so  great  that 
I  could  not  think  of  it  without  bursting  into  tears."  l 

Margaret  was  in  this  state  of  hesitancy  when  God 
came  to  her  assistance.  "One  day,','  she  relates,  "after 
holy  Communion,  He  made  me  see  that  He  is  the  most 
beautiful,  the  richest,  most  powerful,  most  perfect,  and 
accomplished  of  all  lovers.  Being  promised  to  Him, 
whence  came  it,  He  asked,  that  I  desired  to  break  with 
Him  ?  '  Oh,  remember,'  said  He,  *  if  thou  dost  thus  con- 
temn Me,  I  shall  abandon  thee  forever  ;  but  if  thou  art 
faithful  to  Me,  I  shall  never  leave  thee.  I  will  render 
thee  victorious  over  all  thine  enemies.  I  excuse  thy 
ignorance,  because  thou  dost  not  yet  know  Me.  But. if 
thou  art  faithful  to  Me,  I  shall  teach  thee  to  know  Me, 
and  shall  manifest  Myself  to  thee.'  '  These  words,  in 
which  are  combined  authority,  majesty,  tenderness, 
and  the  indignation  that  springs  from  love  despised, 
pierced  Margaret's  heart  like  an  arrow.  She  shed 
abundant  tears,  and  felt  new  light  dawn  upon  her  soul. 
She  renewed  her  vow  of  chastity,  resolved  "  rather  to 
die  than  violate  it."  On  leaving  the  church,  she  an- 
nounced her  resolution  to  her  family,  imploring  them 
to  dismiss  every  aspirant  for  her  hand,  however  advan- 
tageous the  offer  might  be.2 

Margaret's  tone  as  she  uttered  these  words  conveyed 
to  her  mother  the  conviction  that  her  child  meant  what 
she  said;  and  so  she  no  longer  insisted  upon  her  marry- 
ing. "  After  this  my  mother  shed  no  more  tears  in  my 
presence;  but  she  wept  before  all  with  whom  she  spoke 
on  the  subject.  Those  persons  failed  not  to  tell  me  that 
if  I  left  her  I  would  be  the  cause  of  her  death;  that  1 
should  have  to  answer  to  God;  and  that  I  could  become 
a  religious  as  well  after  her  death  as  before  it.  One 
brother,  in  particular,  who  loved  me  much,  did  all  in 
1  Mfemoire,  p.  305.  'Ibid. 


Margaret  enters  the  Visitation  of  Par  ay.   65 

his  power  to  dissuade  me  from  my  design,  and  offered 
me  his  patrimony  as  a  dowry.  But  to  all  such  consider- 
ations my  heart  had  become  as  insensible  as  a  rock." 

Margaret  had,  however,  to  remain  nearly  three  years 
longer  in  the  world.  Her  dowry  was  not  forthcoming, 
the  family  being  yet  undecided.  They  acted  slowly  and 
sought  pretexts  for  delay.  Margaret  waited  patiently; 
but  sure  now  of  herself  and  of  God,  she  lived  in  celestial 
peace. 

Thinking  the  distractions  of  a  pleasant  city  life  would 
change  her  desires,  she  was  sent  to  Macon,  where  her 
maternal  uncle  was  royal  notary.  This  uncle  had  a 
daughter  who  was  very  pious.  She  was  on  the  point 
of  entering  the  Ursuline  convent  of  that  city,  and  she 
made  every  effort  to  take  her  cousin  with  her.  The 
uncle  sided  with  his  daughter,  and  was  more  insistent 
in  the  affair  than  was  commendable.  But  to  their  im- 
portunity Margaret  returned  but  one  reply  in  which 
shone  the  elevation  and  purely  divine  disinterestedness 
of  her  vocation:  "  If  I  should  enter  your  convent,  it 
would  be  for  love  of  you.  I  wish  to  go  to  a  house 
where  I  shall  have  neither  relatives  nor  acquaintances, 
that  I  may  become  a  religious  actuated  by  no  other 
motive  than  the  love  of  God."  She  was  thus  debating 
with  her  uncle  and  cousin,  and  almost  ready  to  yield, 
for  she  could  not  explain  to  herself,  and  still  less  to 
others,  her  apparently  groundless  repugnance  to  enter- 
ing a  Community  pious  and  fervent,  and  into  which 
she  would  have  been  so  joyously  welcomed,  when  her 
brother  Chrysostom  arrived  unexpectedly  to  conduct 
her  home.  Her  mother  was  at  the  point  of  death.  In 
fact,  her  good  and  excellent  mother  was  dying  of  grief. 
They  took  advantage  of  her  state,  to  force  upon  Mar- 
garet the  thought  of  the  responsibility  she  would  incur 
by  persisting  in  her  project.  "  They  made  me  under- 
stand," she  tells  us,  "that  my  mother  could  not  live 
without  me,  and  that  I  should  have  to  answer  to  God 


66  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

for  her  death.  This  was  told  me  even  by  ecclesiastics. 
It  caused  me  cruel  sufferings,  for  I  tenderly  loved  my 
mother.  The  devil  made  use  of  this  ruse  to  make  me 
believe  that  my  mother's  death  would  be  the  cause  of 
my  eternal  damnation."  J 

Tortured  in  heart  and  conscience,  Margaret  cast  her- 
self at  the  foot  of  her  crucifix  and  watered  it  with  her 
tears.  There  she  found  peace.  God  came  to  her  assist- 
ance. He  consoled  her  mother,  enlightened  her  brother, 
and  gave  her  kinsfolk  to  understand  that  souls  must 
follow  whither  God  calls. 

The  more  Margaret  thought  of  the  religious  life,  the 
more  enraptured  she  became  with  it.  It  was  there,  she 
thought,  that  she  would  learn  to  pray  as  she  had  never 
yet  known  how;  that  she  would  obey  and  do  penance 
to  the  full  extent  of  her  desires.  There,  too,  she  would 
communicate  frequently;  and  this  thought  roused  her 
soul  to  rapturous  transports.  "  My  greatest  joy  was  to 
think  I  should  communicate  frequently;  for  the  privi- 
lege was  now  granted  me  but  rarely.  I  should  have 
believed  myself  the  happiest  creature  in  the  world,  had 
I  been  able  frequently  to  pass  the  entire  night  before 
the  Blessed  Sacrament.  On  the  eve  of  my  Commun- 
ions, I  felt  my  soul  so  abyssed  in  recollection  that  I 
could  speak  but  with  the  greatest  effort;  I  was  wholly 
taken  up  with  the  sublimity  of  the  action  I  was  about 
to  perform.  After  my  Communions,  I  desired  neither 
to  eat  nor  drink,  to  see  anyone,  nor  to  speak,  so  great 
were  the  peace  and  consolation  I  felt."2 

Things  were  still  in  this  state,  when  there  arrived  at 
Verosvres,  to  preach  the  Jubilee  proclaimed  by  Clement 
X.  after  his  elevation  to  the  Sovereign  Pontificate,  1670, 
a  religious  of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis.  His  name  the 
old  Memoires  do  not  tell.  They  inform  us  only  that  he 
was  a  man  of  eminent  piety.  To  this  child,  who  was  to 
reveal  to  the  world  the  pierced  Heart  of  Jesus  Christ, 
1  MSmoire,  p.  307.  s  lb.  p.  308. 


Margaret  enters  the  Visitation  of  Par  ay.  by 

God  sent  a  disciple  of  him  who  on  Mt.  Alvernus  had 
received  in  his  hands  and  feet  and  heart  the  sacred 
stigmata  of  the  wounds  of  Jesus  Christ.  "  His  charity 
was  such,"  says  she,  "  that  he  stayed  at  our  house  over- 
night to  give  us  a  chance  to  make  our  general  confes- 
sion." '  Margaret  made  hers  with  abundance  of  tears. 
Her  least  faults  appeared  to  her  crimes.  The  holy  re- 
ligious, seeing  her  purity  of  soul,  put  her  in  the  way  ol 
communicating  every  day,  taught  her  to  make  prayer, — 
an  instruction  she  hardly  needed, — and  promised  her 
some  instruments  of  penance;  for,  dreading  vanity,  she 
had  not  dared  to  speak  to  him  of  the  mortification  she 
already  imposed  upon  herself.  He  did  more.  He  went 
at  once  to  find  Chrysostom,  and  roused  in  nim  great 
scruples  for  putting  obstacles  in  the  way  of  such  a  voca- 
tion. Chrysostom  loved  his  sister  tenderly,  but  he 
feared  still  more  to  offend  God.  That  same  day  he  had 
a  long  conversation  with  Margaret,  to  find  out  whether 
or  not  she  was  really  persevering  in  her  design.  Hav- 
ing received  the  energetic  reply,  "  Yes,  certainly,  1 
would  rather  die  than  change  my  purpose,"  he  at  once 
took  the  necessary  steps  for  her  departure  from  home. 

Shortly  after,  in  the  spring  of  167 1,  Margaret,  accom- 
panied by  her  brother,  set  out  for  Paray-le-Monial,  where 
there  was  a  convent  of  the  Visitation,  in  which  she  had 
resolved  to  conceal  herself  for  life. 

Why  the  Visitation?  She  did  not  know.  Never  had 
she  put  her  foot  into  a  convent  of  this  Order.  She  con- 
sidered the  Poor  Clares  of  Charolles  too  near  to  Veros- 
vres.  As  to  the  Ursulines  of  Macon,  she  was  still  in- 
fluenced by  the  motives  that  dictated  her  answer  to  her 
cousin:  "If  I  should  go  into  your  Community,  it  would 
be  for  love  of  you.  I  wish  to  go  where  I  shall  have 
neither  relations  nor  acquaintances,  that  I  may  become 
a  religious  through  no  other  motive  than  the  love  of 
God."     Once  before  when  her  brother  insisted  on  her 

1  M6moire,  p.  309. 


68  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

entering  with  the  Ursulines,  she  replied:  "No,  that 
will  never  be.  I  wish  to  go  to  the  Holy  Maries,  to  a 
distant  convent  in  which  I  have  no  acquaintances.  I 
wish  to  be  a  religious  only  for  God.  I  wish  to  leave  the 
world  entirely,  to  hide  myself  in  some  corner  in  which 
I  can  forget  and  be  forever  forgotten."  ' 

This  is  all  Margaret  knew  of  the  reasons  that  in- 
fluenced her  vocation.     The  rest  was  God's  secret. 

Several  Visitation  convents  were  proposed  to  her, 
Charolles,  Macon,  Autun,  Dijon,  and  Paray.  "  As 
soon,"  said  she,  "as  I  heard  mention  of  Paray,  my  heart 
bounded  with  joy,  and  I  consented  at  once."  She  then 
set  out  with  her  brother  for  the  term  of  her  happiness, 
"  dear  Paray."  On  crossing  the  threshold,  her  soul  was 
flooded  with  celestial  sweetness,  and  a  voice  interiorly 
whispered:  "  Here  it  is  that  I  wish  thee  to  be."  A  short 
time  before,  seeing  at  Macon  a  picture  of  St.  Francis  de 
Sales,  it  seemed  to  her  that  the  saint  looked  at  her  ten- 
derly. It  was  something  of  the  same  kind  that  she  now 
experienced.  Turning  quickly  toward  her  brother,  she 
said:  "  Be  assured  I  shall  never  leave  this  house."  Not 
so  judged  the  good  people  of  Paray  who  saw  her  enter. 
She  was  tastefully  dressed,  joy  was  beaming  on  her 
countenance,  and  she  was  making  lively  gesticulations. 
They  smiled  as  they  glanced  at  her,  and  said:  "Look! 
has  she  the  appearance  of  a  religious  ?"  "  And  indeed," 
she  adds,  "  I  then  wore  more  vain  ornaments  than  I  had 
ever  before  done,  and  I  gave  expression  to  the  great 
joy  I  felt  at  seeing  myself  all  in  all  to  my  Sovereign 
Good."3 

Margaret  returned  once  more  to  Verosvres,  but  only 
to  take  a  last  farewell.  It  was  heart-rending.  Her 
mother  covered  her  with  tears  and  caresses.  Margaret 
at  first  bore  this  last  assault  without  even  growing  pale. 
"  Never  did  I  feel  my  heart  so  joyous  or  so  firm.  I  was, 
as  it  were,  insensible  to  the  affection  and  the  sorrow  of 
1  MGmoire,  p.  310.  s  lb.,  p.  311. 


Margaret  enters  the  Visitation  of  Par  ay.  69 

which  I  was  the  object  and  the  cause.  Even  my  mother's 
tears  affected  me  not,  and  I  shed  not  one  myself  on 
leaving  her."  But  as  God  wished  that  none  of  the 
beauties  of  nature  or  of  grace  should  be  wanting  to  this 
great  sacrifice,  Margaret  had  hardly  left  her  mother, 
when  an  immense  wave  of  bitterness  swept  over  her 
soul.  "  It  seemed  to  me,"  she  said,  "  that  my  soul  was 
being  torn  from  my  body."  When  St.  Teresa  crossed 
for  the  last  time  the  threshold  of  her  father's  house,  she 
felt,  to  use  her  own  expression,  as  if  her  bones  were 
being  snapped  and  her  life  was  slipping  away  from  her. 
Again,  when  St.  Chantal  tore  herself  from  the  embrace 
of  her  old  father  and  the  caresses  of  her  little  ones,  she 
shed  such  torrents  of  tears  that  the  lookers-on  were 
astonished  and  scandalized.  Margaret  Mary  had  the 
same  divine  honor  done  her.  On  her  way  from  Veros- 
vres  to  Paray,  she  tasted  the  agony  of  agonies. 

Why,  we  ask,  did  she  choose  the  Visitation,  when  so 
many  other  religious  houses  were  open  to  her?  Now 
we  know.  Margaret  Mary  went  not  to  the  Visitation 
like  so  many  others,  because  this  Institute,  founded 
recently  by  two  admirable  saints,  still  exhaled  its  first 
perfume,  a  perfume  so  sweet  to  breathe  in  the  cradle  of 
religious  houses.  She  went  there  by  reason  of  a  higher 
order.  God,  who  has  not  raised  a  mountain,  dug  out  a 
valley,  directed  the  course  of  a  river,  without  knowing 
for  what  people,  for  what  souls  He  was  laboring,  in 
fashioning  the  Visitation  thought  of  Margaret  Mary. 
He  made  one  for  the  other.  He  made  the  sweetness, 
simplicity,  humility,  the  hidden  life  of  the  Visitation 
that  Margaret  Mary  on  the  day  of  her  entrance  might 
expand  as  in  her  element:  and  there  for  twenty  years 
He  worked  in  the  soul  of  our  holy  child.  He  made  her 
sweet,  humble,  simple,  pure,  so  that  she  might  one  day 
be  the  loveliest  of  Visitandine  flowers,  the  sweetest  of 
Visitandine  fruits.  Or  rather  He  made  one  for  the 
other — the  grand   Order    for   the    humble    virgin;    the 


TO  Lt/4  tfSkmt  Mmrg*rrt  Mmry  Al*cofu*. 

former  to  be  the  theatre,  the  latter  the  evangelist,  ihe 
apostle  of  a  groat  miracle,  of  which  m  nor 

the  other  could  have  the  shadow  of  a  <  v>ag  be- 

fore, in  the  far-away  ti  de 

Saks  and  St  Chantal  sublime  presenter    its 
was  to  take  place    He  had  sown  the  living  germs 
in  the  foundation  of  the  v  >  ..  .    a.     He  had  g    en  to 
r  its  arms  and  armorial  bearings  a  hea  ied 

with  thorns  and  surmounted  by  a  cross.  These  pious 
daughters,  whom      \      yea  -  :. ad  formed  in 

solitude  to  be  one   day  the  guard  of  I 
adorable  Heart,  the  people,  though  without  know     g 
why,  began  to  call  «  Tkt  D**gJkUr$  0/  tkt  J5few 

But  the  humble  virgin  that  was  to  cause  those  germs 
to  flourish,  throw  light  upon  those  early  presentiments, 
and  clothe  with  meaning  that  coat-of -arras,  suspected 
nothing  of  her  mission.     In  all  thesi  -irs  of  her 

life,  though  the  Divi.  ehad  already  spoken  to  her, 

there  was  not  one  word  of  her  extraordinary  vocation; 
not  one  glimmer  of  light  on  her  future  destiny;  not  a 
reference  to  the  wants  of  that  Church  to  which,  r. . 
ever,  she  was  sent  as  a  liberating  angel.  She  had  ex- 
perienced but  one  attraction,  and  that  had  overruled 
0  :her.  **  Hide  thyself,  fly  men,  forget  creatures. 
Seek  a  little  corner,  a  solitude,  a  cloister,  in  which  thou 
mayest  forget  all  and  in  which,  forgotten  by  all,  thou 
mayest  live  for  God  alone" — such  were  the  words 
spoken  by  the  Divine  Voice. 

Behold  the  dispositions  with  which  Margaret  entered 

was  clothed  with  the  habit,  and  eighteen  months  later 
she  prostrated  on  the  choir  floor.  The  nuns  covered 
her  with  a  pall,  from  beneath  which  she  rose  up  radi- 
ant; for  between  her  and  man  there  was  raised  an  im 


m  ent  of  Par  ay,  J 1 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  CO*VE*T  OF  PAKAY. 

mm. 


•e  Ofta  OfC 
A*fce,  be  ra%hfrari    0  flnnm;  to  v.  7  %*1  a  MUM  *r 

-     -     - 
of  Lowe  cnrrrfd  the  dear  content  of  Para?*  mtrtidmcmg  dmon  Hm 

' — Amn/g  Smimtr,  vdL  L  ?,  746, 


T.T-vyT:  AT  kind  of  convent  was  this  toward  which 

VV'  '  ■••■*.-.  •--.  -.* 

the  theatre  of  such  marvels  ?    What  seals  was 
she  to  meet  therein  ?    What  rht jcs  and  what  traditions? 
What  the  faith  and  fervor  of  their  rehgpous life?* 
This  was  the  time  in  which  the  Visitation  Order,  for 

Mother  de  Chantal,  1641,  drew  from  the  recent  feasts  of 
the  canonization  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales  fresh  vitality, 
and  continued  to  cover  the  world  with  its  pious  soli- 
tudes. Every  year  saw  them  opened  to  souls  weary  of 
the  world  and  thirsting  for  divine  love.    In  1642,  Vtlle- 

1  It  is  r  To  amy  at  the  YmfMhmforeadkmtmtm'tytomm&omevcsj 
mmee  ytats  a  Grcmlor  .Mrrtnd  to  tkewhote  laaia—i  laxhzs  C*r£»- 
lar  3.  Ire.  nSMtJ  w'JZZ.'rr'r:  *J  mmmmWet  ^  teMMPMM  ii  "--Jt 
aod  dies  »  g^ea  a  ffcetdi  of  the  fives  of  die  Shtrii  dnt 
dMe  three  yearn  Heace  we  fee  die  ianuirt.wr  of 
It  is  die  cosnplefe  kjstory  of  a  uwut,  die  ycof  *«~ 

hare,  coasenneady,  awst  carefattr  cammed  aE  die  Circular:  of  Paar 

>.:-.-. <  -.<;  •,-.  -.'-*.  *-.  ---   •  •-  «-  -.-.   ac  aw  nan  snenajaj      III 
these  rituaajratf  we  <baar  dns  chanter,  and  ffcafl  on  to  diem  for  ag&c 


72   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

franche,  Verceil  in  Italy,  Montbrison,  Agen,  Avignon, 
the  second  of  Rouen;  in  1643,  Salins,  Montelimart,  Li- 
moges; in  1644,  Issoudun,  Castellane,  Vienne,  and 
Tulle;  in  1645,  Saint-Marcellin  and  Soleure;  in  1646, 
La  Fleche,  Avallon,  and  Dole;  in  1647,  Toulouse,  Char- 
tres,  and  Saumur;  in  1648,  Loudun,  Bourbon-Lancy, 
the  second  of  Grenoble  ;  in  1649,  Compiegne  and  Cler- 
mont ;  in  1650,  Abbeville  and  Mons,  in  Hainaut  ;  in 
1651,  Chaillot,  Seissel,  Aurillac,  and  Larochefoucauld  ; 
in  1652,  the  second  of  Marseilles  and  the  second  of  Aix  ; 
in  1653,  Saint-Amour  and  Langres  ;  in  1654,  Varsovie, 
in  Poland  ;  in  1657,  Arone  in  Italy  ;  in  1659,  Auxerre, 
Alencon,  and  Brioude  ;  in  1660,  Thiers  and  the  third  of 
Paris  ;  in  1663,  Bourg,  Saint-And6ol,  and  Monaco  ;  in 
1664,  Nimes  ;  in  1666,  Saint-Remo  ;  in  1667,  Brussels 
and  Munich  ;  in  1669,  Modena  and  the  second  of  Nice  ; 
finally,  in  1671,  Rome.  An  inexhaustible  current  of  life 
flowed  from  the  tomb  that  had  just  closed  over  St. 
Chantal.  And  although  her  first  daughters,  they  who 
had  listened  to  her  energetic  words,  had  gone  to  rejoin 
her  in  the  sojourn  of  light  after  which  they  had  so  ar- 
dently sighed,  they  left  behind  souls  whom  they  them- 
selves had  formed,  inheritors  of  their  virtues,  some  of 
whom  had  even  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  venerable  coun- 
tenance of  their  holy  foundress. 

Among  all  these  pious  solitudes,  that  of  Paray,  in 
Burgundy,  was  recommendable  for  its  antiquity  and 
fervor. 

The  little  town  of  Paray  is  situated  in  a  charming 
valley,  encircled  with  mountains  and  crossed  by  fresh 
running  water.  The  most  beautiful  vines  in  the  world 
lend  it  their  shade,  and  it  rests  at  the  foot  of  an  old 
basilica  built  by  St.  Hugh,  in  the  twelfth  century,  to 
test  the  plan  to  be  used  for  the  colossal  church  of  Cluny. 
Born  of  the  breath  of  the  monks,  and  for  that  reason 
called  Paray-le-Monial;  reared  under  the  paternal  gov- 
ernment of  the  abbots,  of  whom,  in  Burgundy  as  well  as 


The  Convent  of  Par  ay.  73 

on  the  borders  of  the  Rhine,  they  say,  "  One  lives  at 
ease  under  the  crosier,"  it  has  preserved  even  to  our 
own  day  a  purity  of  morals,  a  nobleness  and  distinction 
of  manners,  a  loyalty  of  friendship,  and  a  fervor  of  pi- 
ety, that  the  misfortunes  of  the  times  could  not  dimin- 
ish. Protestantism,  it  is  true,  appeared  there  for  a  mo- 
ment ;  but  it  was,  as  in  other  parts  of  Burgundy,  only  a 
surprise  visit,  from  which  it  quickly  recovered,  and  soon 
regained  its  former  fruitfulness.  To  repair  the  breaches 
made  by  its  inroads,  Paray  made  haste  to  build  a  con- 
vent in  which  the  Ursulines  might  rear  her  children  ;  a 
hospital  for  the  care  of  her  sick  ;  a  house  for  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  to  teach  again  Jesus  Christ  ;  and,  finally,  a  con- 
vent of  the  Visitation  to  embalm  all  around  with  the 
perfume  of  piety.  Some  years  later,  the  little  town, 
whose  population  did  not  then  exceed  four  or  five  thou- 
sand, witnessed  one  of  those  outbursts  of  faith  and 
charity  that  would  have  done  honor  to  the  largest  me- 
tropolis ;  namely,  the  rejoicings  occasioned  by  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Sisters  of  the  Visitation,  September  4,  1626. 
In  1642,  their  convent  was  entirely  rebuilt  in  a  beauti- 
ful plain  to  the  east  and,  as  it  were,  pillowed  on  the 
back  of  the  old  basilica.  It  may  still  be  seen  in  all 
its  primitive  simplicity,  for  it  has  not  changed.  Four 
large  buildings  form  a  square,  which  incloses  a  court. 
A  cloister  extends  around  them,  its  vast  colonnade  open- 
ing on  a  court,  in  whose  centre  plays  the  traditional  and 
symbolical  fountain.  On  the  walls  of  irreproachable 
whiteness,  and  in  the  arch  formed  by  the  rising  roof, 
may  still  be  read  sentences  which  St.  Francis  de  Sales 
recommended  to  be  written  everywhere,  that  no  eye 
might  be  raised  without  meeting  a  thought  for  the  mind 
and  food  for  the  soul.  The  community-room,  chapel, 
sacristy,  and  refectory  open  on  the  cloister,  from  the  four 
corners  of  which  lead  stairs  to  the  cells  on  the  story 
above.  That  of  Margaret  Mary  is  still  in  existence, 
though  now  converted  into  a  chapel.     But  we  have  seen 


74  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

it  in  its  primitive  state,  narrow,  chalk-white,  with  no 
other  furniture  than  a  bed,  a  table,  and  a  chair;  no  other 
ornament  than  a  wooden  crucifix,  and  a  paper  picture 
of  the  Sacred  Heart.  All  the  other  cells  are  like  it, 
simple,  poor,  neat.  The  large  gardens  dotted  with 
statues  and  chapels  surround  the  whole  convent  with 
verdure,  silence,  and  peace.  The  sojourn  of  the  saint 
here  undoubtedly  exhaled  around  it  a  perfume  that 
otherwise  it  would  not  have  had  ;  and  has  made  it,  as  it 
were,  a  reliquary  filled  with  precious  mementos  of  the 
Lord.  One  cannot  take  a  step  without  inhaling  peace, 
fervor,  forgetfulness  of  creatures,  and  the  presence  of 
God. 

On  Margaret's  arrival,  in  167 1,  the  convent  was  gov- 
erned by  the  venerable  Mother  Hieronyme  Hersant, 
just  then  finishing  her  sixth  year  of  superiority.  She 
belonged  to  the  Visitation  of  Paris,  rue  Saint-Antoine, 
where  she  had  for  mistress  of  novices  the  great  and  holy 
Mother  Lhuillier.  Whilst  young,  she  had  been  able  to 
open  her  heart  and  soul  to  the  venerable  Mother  de 
Chantal,  and  for  twenty  years  she  had  for  director  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul.J  In  such  a  school  she  had  become  a 
saint,  and  had,  moreover,  learned  that  science  of  gov- 
ernment and  that  art  of  directing  minds  which,  joined 
to  the  most  solid  virtue,  had  already  secured  to  Paray 
five  years  of  fervor  and  progress  in  the  spiritual  life. 
True,  she  was  at  the  time,  having  almost  finished  her 
six  years  of  superiority,  1666-1672,  about  to  leave  the 
Sisters  of  Paray  and  return  to  Paris.  But  from  her 
hands  the  government  was  to  pass  into  those  of  Mother 
de  Saumaise,  a  soul  neither  less  tender  nor  less  strong, 
who  was  to  come  from  Dijon.  After  having  governed 
that  convent  for  six  years,  1672-1678,  she  was  to  give 
place  to  Mother  Greyfie  from  Annecy,  1678-1684.  In 
this  Visitation  of  Paray,  where  we  are  to  see  virtue  so 
sublime,  vocations  so  extraordinary,  love  of  Rule  so 
1  Annee  Sainte,  vol.  i.  p.  745. 


The  Convent  of  Par  ay.  75 

great,  courage  so  masculine,  humility  overruled  the 
other  virtues  to  such  a  degree  that  it  would  not  allow 
the  religious  to  feel  that  they  were  able  to  govern  them- 
selves. Their  fervor  impelled  them  to  seek  at  Annecy? 
Paris,  and  Dijon,  Superiors  the  most  capable  of  keep- 
ing them  united  and  of  advancing  them  in  the  true 
spirit  of  the  Visitation.  Rising  higher,  let  us  say,  God, 
who  was  bringing  to  this  cloister  so  rare  a  marvel,  and 
through  her  perfecting  the  Visitation,  completing  the 
work  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales  and  St.  Chantal,  wished  to 
call  there  to  direct  Margaret  Mary  the  most  eminent 
Superioresses  from  the  three  convents  in  which  were 
still  existing  the  oldest  traditions  and  remembrances  of 
the  holy  founders. 

The  mistress  of  novices  into  whose  hands  Margaret 
was  to  be  placed  on  her  arrival  was  a  venerable  relig 
ious  who  had  passed  four-and-forty  years  of  conventual 
life,  and  whose  vocation  dated  back  even  to  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Visitation  of  Paray.  Her  father,  M.  de 
Thouvant,  was  one  of  the  two  founders  of  the  convent, 
and  she  was  the  first  of  the  young  girls  of  Paray  to  take 
the  veil.  Contemporrry  with  the  eight  religious  whom 
Mother  de  Blonay  had  sent  from  Lyons  to  make  the 
foundation, — and  "  who  were  so  extraordinarily  favored 
by  God;  whose  obedience  was  proof  against  all  diffi- 
culties; whose  gift  of  prayer  was  sublime;  and,  finally, 
whose  perfume  of  virtue  was  so  powerful  that  the  people 
clipped  their  clothing  to  obtain  some  shreds  as  relics,"  ' 
— Sister  de  Thouvant  had  not  yet  finished  her  novitiate 
when  St.  de  Chantal  arrived  at  the  convent.  The  saint 
looked  at  the  novice,  who  was  only  sixteen  years  old, 
and,  knowing  by  prophetic  light  what  she  would  one 
day  be,  laid  her  hand  on  her  head  with  a  blessing.  She 
earnestly  recommended  that  they  would  take  great  care 
of  her  and   moderate   her  fervor,  "  and,   in  particular, 

1  Unedited  Foundations  of   the  Convent  of   Paray   (MSS.    in   4to, 
belonging  to  the  Visitation  of  Parav),  p.   308. 


76  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

allow  her  to  make  only  half  an  hour's  prayer  until  she 
was  eighteen,  for  fear  too  great  application  might 
weaken  her  health;  adding  that  she  foresaw  that  her 
virtues  and  good  judgment  would  render  her  eminently 
serviceable  to  the  Community."  ' 

The  saint's  prophecy  was  fully  realized.  After  hav- 
ing governed  the  convent  of  Paray  twelve  years  as  Su- 
perioress, 1645-1651  and  1657-1663;  after  having,  as 
mistress  of  novices,  formed  the  greater  part  of  the  Com- 
munity; endowed  with  the  gift  of  sublime  prayer,  tender 
devotion  to  the  Lord,  and  a  deep  knowledge  of  souls, 
she  was  going  to  finish  her  successful  career  by  forming 
Margaret  Mary  to  the  religious  life. 

Under  the  administration  of  the  venerable  Mother 
Hieronyme  Hersant,  and  the  enlightened  direction  of 
the  pious  Sister  de  Thouvant,  the  convent  of  Paray  re- 
cruited rapidly.  A  crowd  of  young  girls,  overcoming 
the  most  painful  opposition,  were  seen  hastening  to  bury 
themselves  in  the  cloister,  at  the  cost  of  the  greatest 
sacrifices.  They  belonged  to  the  best  families  of  Bur- 
gundy: Catherine-Antoinette  de  Levis-Chateaumorand 
for  example,  who  had  been  detained  in  the  world  by  the 
tenderness  of  her  mother.  After. the  death  of  the  latter, 
she  scattered  so  generously  the  treasures  of  her  large 
fortune  on  her  native  province,  that  when  the  people 
learned  her  design  of  entering  religion  there  was  a 
general  outcry.  It  was  resolved  to  oppose  her  depart- 
ure, and  even  to  arrest  her  en  route  y2 — Marie-Hyacinthe 
Courtin,  as  "  remarkable  for  beauty  as  for  virtue,  and 
who  was  followed  by  her  suitors  even  into  our  par- 
lors;"3— Marie-Therese  Basset,  belonging  to  one  of  the 

1  Unedited  Foundations  of  Paray,  p.  310. 

2  Abridgment  of  the  life  and  virtues  of  our  dear  Sister  de  Levis- 
Chateaumorand  (without  date). 

3  Circular  of  Paray,  March  23,  1725.  Abridgment  of  the  virtues  of 
twelve  of  our  dear  Sisters  who  died  in  the  convent  of  Paray  from  Sep- 
tember 9,  1 719. 


The  Convent  of  Par  ay.  fj 

richest  families  of  Roanne,  who  saw  two  aspirants  to 
her  hand  decide  their  claim  by  a  duel,  in  which  the  loved 
one  was  slain  by  his  jealous  rival.  Wounded  to  the 
heart  by  this  blow,  she  sought  forgetfulness  and  con- 
solation in  the  love  of  Him  who  cannot  be  taken  away; ' 
— Madeleine  de  Vichy-Chamron,  of  the  two  illustrious 
houses  of  Chamron  and  d'Amanze,  who  entered  the 
Visitation  only  after  having  refused  the  abbatial  crosier 
offered  her  by  Mgr.  de  Villars,  Archbishop  of  Vienne;2 
— Seraphique  de  la  Martiniere,  who,  forced  to  remain  in 
the  world  by  the  devotedness  of  her  parents,  fell  so  ill 
that  she  soon  resembled  a  skeleton.  Allowed  at  last  to 
fulfil  her  desire,  "  the  ardor  of  her  fever  yielded  to  that 
of  divine  love,  which  conducted  her  to  the  celestial 
Spouse."3  We  are  about  to  see  group  around  Margaret 
Mary  so  many  who,  had  they  deigned  to  give  it  their 
heart,  might  have  hoped  everything  from  the  world;  in 
fine,  the  ladies  Damas,  Coligny,  d'Amanze,  Varenne  de 
Gletin,  d'Athose,  des  Escures,  who  might  at  least,  since 
they  desired  to  be  religious,  have  borne  the  crosier  of 
an  abbess,  or  worn  the  pectoral  cross  of  a  canoness, 
but  who  relinquished  all,  attracted  by  the  humility, 
poverty,  and  fervor  of  the  humble  retreat  that  St. 
Francis  de  Sales  and  St.  Chantal  had  just  opened  "  to 
the  great  of  heart  and  the  weak  of  health."  There  were 
seen  even  high-born  ladies  who  thought  it  not  sufficient 
if,  in  becoming  religious,  they  did  not  descend  to  the 
rank  of  domestic  Sisters  :  Frances-Angelique  de  la 
Mettrie,  for  example,  or  Claude-Francoise  Chappui. 
granddaughter  of  M.  de  Marselison,  of  a  very  rich 
family  of  Charolais.     "All  the  importunity  of  her  rela- 

1  Circular  of  December  17,  171 7.  Abridgment  of  the  virtues  of  our 
most  honored  Sister  Marie-Therese  Basset. 

s  Circular  of  February  20,  1738.  Abridgment  of  the  life  and  vir 
tues  of  our  very  honored  Sister  Madeleine- Victoire  de  Vichy  de 
Chamron. 

3  Circular  ot  March  23,  1725.     Abridgment  of  the  twelve,  eto 


yS  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

tives  could  not  dissuade  the  latter  from  taking  at  Paray 
the  white  veil  of  the  domestic  Sisters,  nor  constrain  her 
at  the  close  of  her  life  to  become  a  choir  Sister.  She  de- 
clared that  her  wish  was  to  die  in  the  white  veil."  l 

Just  because  these  young  girls  belonged  to  great 
families,  and  possessed  a  great  heart,  the  trials  of  the 
novitiate  were  excessively  severe.  Fifty  years  later 
their  remembrance  made  them  tremble.  "  As  they  were 
not  sparing  of  trials  then,"  says  the  Sister  who  relates 
the  entrance  into  religion  of  Rosalie  Verchere,  "  she 
displayed  all  the  generosity  of  her  soul."  "  Her  great 
piety  caused  her  to  be  joyfully  received  to  the  novitiate," 
is  written  of  Francoise-Marguerite  d'Athose.  "  She  en- 
dured the  trials,  which  at  that  time  were  very  great, 
with  a  fervor  that  merited  for  her  the  reception  of  our 
holy  habit."2  "Her  intrepid  courage,"  it  is  said  of 
Marie-Catherine  du  Chailloux,  "  consumed,  so  to  say, 
the  rigor  of  those  early  days,  and  she  plunged  with  all  the 
ardor  of  holy  love  into  the  ocean  of  severe  trials  then  in 
force."  3  "  One  can  say  of  Catherine  Heuillard  that  she 
carried  to  the  grave  the  fervor  of  her  novitiate,  having 
never  had  any  other  reproaches  addressed  her  than 
that  she  did  too  much  and  labored  above  her  strength."  * 
Like  words  one  meets  on  every  page  of  the  manuscripts 
that  record  the  foundation  of  the  Visitation  at  Paray. 

How  could  this  character  of  austerity,  of  holy  and 
generous  abandonment  to  the  rigor  of  holy  love,  fail  the 
novitiate,  since  the  professed  Sisters,  one  and  all,  were 
possessed  of  it?  We  have  already  seen  something  of  it; 
but  it  would  be  necessary  to  relate  the  life  of  each 
member,  in  particular,  to  give  a  true  picture  of  this  fer- 
vent and  generous  Community.  Marie-Suzanne  Pie- 
denuz  was  a  prodigy  of  austerity.     "  Wholly  penetrated 

1  Circular  of  April  18,  171 3. 
1  Circular  of  March  23,  1725. 

3  Circular  of  October  1,  1743. 

4  Circular  of  December  17,  171 7. 


The  Convent  of  Par  ay.  79 

with  the  majesty  and  sanctity  of  God,  she  would  have 
wished  to  abyss  herself  in  His  presence  even  to  the 
centre  of  the  earth.  She  appeared  before  Him  as  a 
criminal  crushed  under  the  weight  of  His  justice.  Her 
bloody  disciplines  diminished  nothing  of  the  ardor  of 
her  love.  Loving  her  Divine  Saviour  with  all  the 
powers  of  her  soul,  yet  feeling  that  she  could  not  love 
Him  as  much  as  she  desired,  she  looked  upon  herself  as 
a  reprobate,  and  this  painful  state  lasted  till  her  death."  ' 
Catherine-Augustine  Marest  had  yet  a  stronger  attrac- 
don  for  penance.  "  This  admirable  daughter,  although 
not  to  be  imitated  in  her  mortifications,  drank  wine 
rarely,  hardly  ever  approached  the  fire,  the  ardor  of 
divine  love  serving  her  at  all  seasons.  She  was  clothed 
in  winter  as  in  summer,  not  thinking  herself  worthy 
even  to  wear  that  which  could  no  longer  be  used  by 
others."  a  "  God  had  prevented  Marie-Hyacinthe  Cour- 
tin  with  His  holy  fear  and  so  lively  a  horror  of  sin  that, 
though  shunning  even  its  shadow,  she  dreaded  to  ap- 
proach the  sacraments.  Endless  time  was  necessary 
for  her  to  prepare  for  confession,  in  which,  however,  she 
failed  not  to  be  short  and  clear,  in  spite  of  the  great 
scruples  by  which  she  was  devoured  on  the  score  of  the 
Office.  This,  joined  to  her  great  abstinence  and  morti- 
fication, reduced  her  to  a  slow  decline."  3  Marie-Char- 
lotte Benoit  was  still  more  penitential.  "Her  strong 
and  generous  soul  made  her  aim  at  perfection  in  the 
most  vigorous  manner.  She  did  nothing  by  halves. 
She  sacrificed  herself  and  carried  her  severity  so  far 
that  her  conduct  on  this  point  is  more  admirable  than 
imitable.  She  treated  her  body  so  harshly  during  her 
lifetime  that,  like  St.  Bernard,  fearful  of  having  short- 
ened her  days,  she  was  constrained  at  the  hour  of  death 
to  ask  its  pardon.     This  state  of  continual  death  makes 

1  Circular  of  March  15,  1703. 

2  Circular  of  April  18,  171 3. 
8  Circular  of  March  23,  1725. 


8o  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

us  regard  her  as  another  St.  Jerome."  '  They  compared 
Rosalie  de  Farges  to  another  Elias,  whose  ardor  and 
penance  she  possessed.  We  shall  see  her  pass  her  entire 
life  on  Calvary  in  the  mi  dst  of  austerities  that  make  one 
tremble.2 

To  this  austerity,  this  mortification,  which  left  their 
traces  on  the  countenance  of  the  Sisters  of  Paray,  was 
joined  a  love  for  Rule  carried,  perhaps,  to  so  high  a  de- 
gree in  no  other  convent.  Sister  Jeanne- Aimee  lay  at  the 
point  of  death.  The  Superioress  found  her  absorbed  in 
God,  her  hands  clasping  the  book  of  Constitutions.  To 
the  questions  addressed  to  her,  she  answered:  "Ah! 
Mother,  the  Lord  has  made  known  to  me  that  I  can 
enter  heaven  only  by  these  three  doors:  the  observance 
of  our  holy  Rules,  the  love  of  our  neighbor,  and  humil- 
ity."3 "  Marie  Joseph  Bouthier,  dying  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  and  pained  at  leaving  life  so  young,  ex- 
claimed: 'Alas!  I  have  only  begun  to  live,  and  behold, 
I  must  die.'  To  reconcile  herself  to  the  sacrifice,  she 
kissed  the  book  of  Constitutions  and  found  therein 
strength  to  submit  to  the  holy  will  of  God."  4  Marie- 
Hyacinthe  Courtin  always  had  her  Rules  in  her  hand. 
By  them  she  regulated  all  her  actions,  not  wishing  "  to 
do  anything  more  or  less,"  which  words  she  had  taken 
as  her  device.5  The  zeal  with  which  Sister  Catherine- 
Augustine  Marest  was  animated,  not  to  say  inflamed,  for 
the  holy  Rule,  would  not  suffer  a  failure  in  the  least 
point  of  it;  Dut  God  made  her  understand,  at  last,  that 
it  would  be  more  meritorious  to  moderate  her  rigor. 
"Attached  to  her  Rule  alone,  she  understood  nothing 
of  the  mysteries  of  direction,  as  she  herself  said  smiling. 
Her  Rule,  her  Superioress,  her  ordinary  confessor,  suf- 

1  Circular  of  December  17,  171 7. 

2  Circular  of  May  14,  1743. 

3  Circular  of  December  17,  1717. 

4  Circular  of  March  23,  1725. 

6  Circular  of  December  17,  1717. 


The  Convent  of  Par  ay.  81 

ficed  for  her."  1  They  said  as  much  of  Sister  Seraphique 
de  la  Martiniere,  whose  chief  attraction  was  love  of  the 
hidden  life  and  exact  observance  of  Rule.  "  All  that  was 
high  and  sublime  was  suspected  by  her."  3  And  in  an- 
other place  we  read  of  Sister  de  Damas  de  Barnay:  "  What 
was  singular  and  admirable  was  not  for  her." 

Let  us  carefully  note  all  these  traits:  that  exact  ob^ 
servance  of  Rule;  that  care  of  regulating  their  actions 
by  the  motto,  "  Neither  more  nor  less;"  that  fear  of 
everything  high  and  sublime,  everything  singular  and 
admirable,  that  sweet  smile  when  speaking  of  those 
mysteries  of  direction,  etc.  In  them  we  touch  upon 
one  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  the  convent 
of  Paray,  the  true  cause  of  the  passing  opposition  that 
Margaret  was  going  to  meet  there,  and  which  has  been 
till  now  so  little  understood  and  so  unfairly  estimated. 

Let  us  add  that  these  ardent  souls,  so  generous,  so 
strongly  attached  to  their  Rules,  were  incredibly  humble 
and  obedient.  "  Sister  Anne-Alexis  was  like  a  ball  of 
wax  in  the  hands  of  God  and  of  those  that  held  to  her 
His  place.  It  was  this  that  made  them  put  her  into  all 
the  offices  high  and  low,  by  which  she  was  neither 
elated  nor  cast  down,  but  always  frank  and  cordial,  and 
of  exemplary  regularity."  3  When  they  informed  Sister 
de  Vichy-Chamron,  who  had  broken  her  abbatial  crosier 
to  enter  the  Visitation,  that  they  thought  of  making  her 
directress,  tears  filled  her  eyes,  she  trembled  and 
swooned.4  It  was  the  same  with  Mother  de  Levis- 
Chateaumorand  when  there  was  question  of  making  her 
Superioress.  Obliged  to  submit,  she  left  at  her  death  a 
written  request  that,  contrary  to  custom,  they  would 
write  nothing  about  her,  but  leave  her  memory  in 
eternal  oblivion.5     The  Sisters  did  not  obey  this  order. 

1  Circular  of  December  17,  171 7.     9  Ibid. 

3  Abridgment  of    the   Life    and  Virtues   of   Sister   Anne-Alexis  de 
Mar6schalle  (a  small  quarto  of  10  pages). 

4  Circular  of  February  20,  1738.  6  Abridgment  of  Life. 


82  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Would  to  God  they  had  not  obeyed  a  similar  recom- 
mendation left  by  Sister  Marie-Madeleine  des  Escures, 
cLt  first  Margaret's  most  intimate  friend,  whose  affection, 
a  little  too  lively,  was  in  those  first  days  the  trial  of  her 
novitiate;  later,  her  most  zealous  adversary,  because, 
though  fervent,  but  less  enlightened  than  our  saint,  it 
seemed  to  her  that  the  latter  strayed  from  the  Rule 
and  the  spirit  of  the  Visitation,  above  which  she  herself 
prized  nothing;  and  finally,  when  she  saw  her  error, 
the  most  humble,  most  zealous  of  the  adorers  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  and  of  the  disciples  of  Margaret  Mary. 
It  is  also  to  be  regretted  that  the  Sisters  conformed  so 
exactly  to  the  written  requests  left  by  Sisters  Angelique 
de  Damas  de  Barnay,  Jeanne-Francoise  Chalon,  de 
Coligny,  and  a  number  of  others.  Their  love  having 
led  them  to  quit  all  and  bury  themselves  in  the  cloister, 
it  now  led  them  to  desire  to  be  forgotten  even  by  tr.  2 
cloister. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  love  for  God  crowned  these 
numerous  virtues  and  inflamed  all  souls.  It  was  love  a 
little  timid,  we  must  admit,  though  strong  and  austere 
after  the  fashion  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  which 
generosity  was  unlimited,  but  in  which  tenderness 
should  have  predominated.  The  great  devotion  of 
Marie-Anne  Cordier  was  to  the  immensity  of  God,  and 
she  incessantly  buried  herself  in  this  abyss  as  a  nothing 
that  He  is  about  to  destroy.1  That  of  Seraphique  de  la 
Martiniere  was  for  the  infinite  majesty  of  God.  This 
idea  she  had  constantly  before  her  eyes;  therefore  she 
always  worked  on  her  knees.2  Marie-Emerentianne 
Rosselin  was  almost  always  buried  in  the  contemplation 
of  God's  justice,  which  thought  tinged  her  life  with 
fear.3  It  was  the  same  with  Marie-Catherine  du  Chail- 
loux,  whose   days  were  passed   in   terror  of  His  judg- 

1  Circular  of  April  18,1713. 
8  Circular  of  March  23,  1725. 
8  Ibid. 


The  Convent  of  Par  ay.  83 

ments.  All  that  she  heard  in  sermons,  all  that  she 
read  on  the  end  of  man,  predestination,  or  fidelity  to 
grace,  impressed  her  so  forcibly  that  she  was  ready  to 
die  of  fright.  We  would  be  unable  to  rehearse  all  the 
penances  she  performed  to  obtain  the  peace  of  the 
children  of  God,  which  she  at  last  possessed  after  hav- 
ing purchased  it  so  dearly."  ] 

But  these  grand  views,  which  have  so  deteriorated  in 

our  days,  and  which  then   filled  souls    with    so    lively 

respect  for  God,  do  not  hinder  love.     Sister  Seraphique 

de  la  Martiniere,  who,  as  we  have  said,  always  labored 

on  her  knees,  appeared  inflamed  with  that  fire  of  divine 

love  which  Jesus  Christ  came  to   enkindle   upon  earth. 

The  assaults  of  divine  love  often  reduced  her  to  death, 

and  she  complained  tenderly  to  her   God,  saying:    "  I 

can    bear   no    more!      Have    regard    to    my    weakness, 

O  Lord,  or  I   shall  expire  under  the   violence  of  Thy 

love!"2     That  other   Sister,  Marie-Anne    Cordier,  who 

always  felt  herself  annihilated  before  the  immensity  of 

God,  had  at  the  same  time  for  Him  a  love  so  lively,  so, 

strong,  so  ardent,  that,  according  to  her  own  expression, 

she  would  die  of  sorrow  at  not  being  able  to  die  of  love.3 

"O    Mother!"    said    Sister    Emerentianne   Rosselin,  "I 

long  passionately  to  die  in  order  to  see   my  God;"  and 

her  eyes,  whilst  saying  these  words,  shone  with  so  vivid 

a  light  that  in  them   could  be  read  the   truth   of  what 

she   affirmed.4     Sister   Marie-Suzanne    Piedenuz    made 

every  day  one  hundred  acts  of  the   love  of  God;5  and 

eyes    filled  with    tears    on  beholding   Sister   Catherine 

S6raphique    Bouillet,  a   venerable    old    Sister,    on    her 

knees,  her  hands  joined,  asking  the  little  novices  what 

1  Circular  of  October  i,  1743. 

2  Circular  of  March  23,  1 725. 

3  Ibid. 
*  Ibid. 

5  Ann6e  Sainte,  vol.  v.  p.  353. 


84  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

she  must  do  to  love  God.  "  For  I  languish  with  love 
of  Him,"  said  she,  "and  I  cannot  be  satisfied."  ' 

The  two  great  devotions  of  the  convent  were,  as  we 
see,  the  Cross  and  the  Holy  Eucharist — the  tomb  of 
sacrifice  and  the  tomb  of  Love  Eternal.  The  religious 
went  to  the  first  to  entertain  and  there  excite  that 
thirst  for  immolation,  for  penance,  for  austerity  and 
humiliation,  which  devoured  them.  There  is  not  one  of 
those  lives  in  which  we  do  not  discover  that  the  second 
source  of  their  piety  was  the  Lord  in  the  Holy  Sacra- 
ment. According  to  the  old  Memoires:  "  They  ran 
thither  as  if  famished." 

We  begin  now  to  discover  the  true  features  of  Paray. 
In  founding  his  grand  work  of  the  Visitation,  the 
saintly  Bishop  of  Geneva  had,  we  remember,  two  lofty, 
prevailing  ideas.  They  were  tutelary  angels  far  in 
advance  of  their  time,  and  which  for  that  reason  met  a 
thousand  difficulties  that  stranded  the  one  and  kept  the 
other  in  constant  jeopardy.  The  first  idea  of  St.  Fran- 
cis de  Sales  was  to  found  religious  for  the  service  of 
the  poor.  The  world  cried  out  against  it,  and  con- 
strained the  holy  prelate  to  erect  the  grates  of  the 
cloister.  Baffled  in  this,  the  saint  thought  of  that 
multitude  of  souls  who,  from  want  of  robust  health, 
could  not  enter  Carmel  or  the  Poor  Clares,  and  drew 
up  a  kind  of  life  in  which  recollection,  sweetness,  the 
spirit  of  mortification,  and  amiable  charity  were  to 
supply  for  corporal  austerities,  which  the  want  alluded 
to  rendered  impossible.  But  here  that  vast  tide  of  com- 
punction which  swept  through  the  seventeenth  century 
began  to  swell  and  carry  on  its  breast  crowds  to  the 
Visitation.  Paray  was  of  this  number.  Behold  those 
cloister-grates,  more  austere  than  St.  Francis  de  Sales 
demanded  ;  those  frequent  disciplines,  those  continual 
fasts!  See  that  multitude  of  Sisters  forced  to  ask 
pardon  of  their  body  for  having  treated  it  so  badly! 
1  Circular  of  May  4,  1704. 


The  Convent  of  Par  ay.  85 

See  them  trembling  before  God  with  holy  fear,  over- 
powered by  the  feeling  of  His  immensity,  His  awful 
greatness!  In  a  word,  look  at  that  love,  generous  but 
not  sufficiently  tender,  and  you  have  a  picture  of  Paray 
in  167 1.  It  was  more  austere  than  St.  Francis  de  Sales 
wished,  but  it  was  not  less  fervent  than  he  could  have 
possibly  desired. 

Were  the  generous-souled  inmates  of  this  convent 
sad  ?  Listen  to  a  remark  repeated  a  thousand  times 
and  with  perfect  truth:  "The  more  severe  the  Rule,  the 
gayer  the  religious."  In  the  lives  of  the  Sisters  who 
then  composed  the  Community  of  Paray,  one  reads  with 
surprise  words  most  pleasing.  There  is  hardly  one  of 
those  religious  of  whom  they  do  not  say  that  she  was 
a  good  friend;1  one  of  the  best  friends  that  could  be 
found;2  a  soul  sincere  and  frank  in  her  friendship;3  a 
royal  heart;4  a  noble  and  liberal  heart;5  a  heart  the  most 
sensible  to  affection  and  most  grateful  for  the  least 
service.6  Their  records  sing  on  every  note  of  the  scale 
of  the  amiability,  gayety,  sweetness,  eagerness  to  give 
pleasure,  lively  and  spiritual  repartee,  beautiful  talents  of 
all  kinds.7  Marie-Therese  Basset,  daughter  of  the  mayor 
of  Roanne,  understood  business  so  well  as  to  surprise 
the  lawyers  of  her  day.  "  She  has  been  most  useful  to 
us,"  say  the  Memoires,  "in  the  care  of  our  papers;  and 
her  distinct  and  beautiful  penmanship  has  been  of 
marvellous  assistance.  On  entering  the  cloister  she 
brought  with  her  a  library  so  well  furnished  that  it  was 
for  us  a  valuable  present.8     Sister  Marie-Catherine  du 

1  Circular  of  March  23,  1725. 

2  Ibid. 

3  Circular  of  November  1,  1715. 

4  Circular  of  March  8,  1701. 

'  Circular  of  December  17,  171 7. 
6  Circular  of  July  7,  1743. 

*  See  the  above-mentioned  Circulars,  along  with  others  already 
quoted  or  from  which  we  are  going  to  quote. 

*  Circular  of  December  17,  171 7:  see  her  detailed  Life. 


86  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Chailloux  wielded  a  not  less  able  pen.  It  was  she  who 
wrote  the  Annales  of  the  convent  of  Paray,  "  a  work 
that  immortalized  her  among  us."1  Sister  Anne-Alexis 
de  Mareschalle  wrote  charming  verses.  "  She  possessed  a 
joyousness  of  heart  that  was  reflected  in  her  countenance 
and  entered  into  her  conversation,  always  gay  and  holily 
jo37ous.  She  also  wrote  very  beautiful  couplets  to 
animate  herself  to  fervor  ever  new."2  Sister  Marie- 
Suzanne  Piedenuz  did  better  still,  for  she  composed  a 
great  number  of  poems  and  canticles.  She  transposed 
into  verse  the  Psalter  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  consisting 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  Psalms,  composed  by  St. 
Bonaventure.3  Madeleine-Victoire  de  Vichy-Chamron 
also  cultivated  poetry.  The  time  passed  in  her  cell  was 
so  agreeable  that,  far  from  being  wearisome,  she  always 
found  it  too  short.  She  composed  spiritual  canticles 
full  of  energy  and  fervor.  Some  of  the  poems  then 
written  in  the  convent  of  Paray  have  been  preserved. 
They  are  not  inferior  to  those  cited  by  M.  Cousin  com- 
posed at  the  same  epoch  by  Mile,  de  Bourbon,  Mile,  de 
Rambouillet,  Mile,  de  Bouteville  and  Mile,  de  Brienne  at 
the  chateau  of  Chantilly.4  Margaret  Mary  is  about  to 
join  this  choir  of  voices  sweet  and  pure,  and  our  dear 
little  country-girl  will  warble  melodiously  as  they. 

"  A  chased  and  panting  fawn, 
I  seek  the  flowing  stream. 
The  hunter's  flying  dart 
Has  pierced  my  inmost  heart." 

Let  us  now  bring  an  artiste  to  the  front.  Marie- 
Anne  Cordier  covered  the  convent  with  her  pictures. 
Seizing  the  brush  herself,  she  painted  the  chapel  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  the  ceiling  azure  sown  with  golden 
stars,  which  produced  a  lovely  effect.     Again,  she  in- 

1  Circular  of  July  7,  1743. 
8  Circular  of  March  9,  1733. 

3  Annee  Sainte,  vol.  i.  p.  353. 

4  Cousin,  La  Jeunesse  de  Mme.  de  Longueville,  p.  217 


The  Convent  of  Par  ay.  87 

spired  painters  and  sculptors  with  her  own  ideas,  with 
which  workmen  even  the  most  expert  were  charmed. 
She  had  the  altar-piece  made,  she  herself  furnishing  the 
idea  to  a  very  skilful  sculptor.  She  had  made,  also, 
some  figures  in  copper  representing  the  mysteries  of 
the  Passion.  They  were  placed  in  a  corridor  leading 
to  the  infirmary,  at  the  end  of  which  was  a  Calvary. 
She  had,  in  fine,  painted  all  around  the  Blessed  Virgin's 
chapel  the  mysteries  of  her  life.1  The  chapel  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  however,  she  had  not  the  happiness  of 
thus  embellishing.  Whether  she  was  suffering  at  the 
time  or  other  reasons  intervened  we  do  not  know,  but 
that  honor  was  reserved  for  Marie-Nicole  de  la  Faige 
des  Claines.  Born  of  a  great  family,  the  recipient  of  a 
brilliant  education,  she  had,  perhaps,  a  more  exquisite 
talent.  She,  also,  it  was  who  painted  the  first  picture 
representing  the  Sacred  Heart  surrounded  by  angels.' 
Another  Sister,  Frangoise-Eleonore  de  Vichy-Chamron, 
succeeded  so  well  in  small  crayons  "  that  some  of  her 
work,  after  exciting  the  admiration  of  Mgr.  Cardinal  de 
Bouillon,  was  sent  by  him  not  only  to  his  noble  rela- 
tives in  Paris,  but  one  also  to  the  Holy  Father,  Pope 
Clement  XI.  His  Eminence  assures  us  that  it  was  hon- 
ored with  a  place  in  the  breviary  of  His  Holiness,  who 
praised  its  delicacy  very  much."  s 

Whilst  some  of  the  nuns  charmed  thus  the  leisure 
hours  of  their  cloistered  life,  warming  their  heart  by 
devout  poetic  effusions  and  beautiful  paintings,  others 
plied  the  needle.  Through  a  spirit  of  devotion  for  the 
ornamentation  of  the  holy  altar;  or  through  a  peniten- 
tial spirit  of  labor;  or  again,  after  the  pestilence,  through 
the  necessity  of  supplying  their  own  wants,  they  busied 
themselves  in  similar  occupations,  in  all  which,  how- 
ever,  they  showed   themselves  most   expert,   and  per- 

1  Circular  of  April  18,  171 3. 
3  Ann6e  Sainte,  vol.  ix.  p.  727. 
3  Vie  et  (Euvres,  vol.  i.  p.  482. 


88  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

formed  wonders.  Francoise-Marguerite  d'Athose,  we 
are  told,  "  was  one  of  the  most  skilful  in  weaving  laces 
of  gold  and  silver,  which  we  made  at  that  time  for  a 
merchant  of  Lyons."  '  When  Sister  Madeleine  de 
Vichy-Chamron  took  the  veil,  she  was  attired  in  a 
magnificent  dress  of  cherry-colored  moire  with  under- 
skirt of  silver  moire,  which  she  afterward  devoted  to 
the  altar.  With  the  assistance  of  her  dear  Sisters,  she 
embroidered  it  beautifully  in  gold  and  silver.  Their 
skilful  fingers  succeeded  so  well  that  their  work  was 
long  used  as  our  most  beautiful  ornaments.8  Sister 
de  Vichy-Chamron  had  as  friend  and  rival  in  this  sort 
of  work  Catherine-Augustine  Marest,  who  employed 
her  time  and  extraordinary  talent  in  making  laces  of 
point  a  la  reine  to  trim  albs  and  surplices.  She  was  also 
remarkably  skilful  in  making  gold  and  silver  laces  to  be 
sold  in  Lyons,  and  the  result  of  her  labor  was  so  suc- 
cessful as  to  furnish  the  necessary  funds  to  erect  in  the 
church  the  chapel  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales.3  They  praise 
the  exquisite  tapestry  of  Sister  Marie-Catherine  du 
Chailloux,  wrought  in  her  early  religious  days;  for 
later,  through  humility,  she  asked  and  obtained  per- 
mission to  make  a  vow  to  employ  her  time  in  shoe- 
making.  With  the  same  hand  that  had  arranged  the 
Annales  of  the  convent,  she  for  forty  years  made  the 
shoes  of  its  inmates.4  It  was  the  same  sentiment  of 
humility  that  induced  Madeleine  de  Vichy-Chamron  to 
abandon  her  embroidery  in  gold  and  silver  for  the  cloth- 
factory  that  the  Sisters  of  Paray  had  established  in  their 
house  to  defray  the  expenses  of  their  convent,  desolated 
by  the  pestilence.     She  passed  many  years  there  making 

V 

1  Circular  of  March  23,  1725. 

2  Circular  of  January  20,  1738.  Those  beautiful  ornaments  have  not 
perished.  Splendidly  restored,  they  were  used  at  the  feast  of  the 
Beatification. 

3  Circular  of  December  17,  1717* 

4  Circular  of  July  7,  1743* 


The  Convent  of  Par  ay.  8$ 

cinctures  with  a  little  loom  or  frame,  and  spinning  the 
woof  of  the  stuff  with  which  the  frames  were  covered. 

When  Mme.  de  Maulvrier  expressed  astonishment  at 
seeing  a  girl  of  her  birth  in  so  low  an  employment,  she 
received  the  beautiful  reply  that,  low  as  it  was,  it  was 
far  too  honorable  for  her.1  She  had  in  this  work  as 
teacher  and  mistress  Sister  Anne-Alexis  de  Mareschalle, 
who  had  been  the  first  to  learn  the  art  from  a  cloth- 
weaver  and  his  wife,  very  poor,  plain  people,  "  under 
whom  she  suffered  much  in  acquiring  her  knowledge  of 
spinning  and  weaving."  But  nothing  could  daunt  her. 
She  had  the  establishment  of  this  cloth-factory  at  heart, 
and  she  afterward  devoted  seventeen  years  to  it.2 
Another  brave  soul  devoted  to  this  humble  and  labo- 
rious work  was  Catherine-Augustine  Marest,  a  skilled 
point-lace  maker.  She  remained  long  years  in  the  fac- 
tory, turning  her  great  wheel  with  recollection  that 
edified  the  beholders,  and  strength  that  no  fatigue 
nould  overcome,  looking  upon  herself  the  while  as  the 
dolt  of  the  house.  Thus  did  Mother  Greyfie  smilingly 
call  her.  Not  that  Sister  Catherine  was  wanting  in 
spirit.  She  possessed  the  gift  of  repartee,  the  most 
lively  and  the  most  spiritual,  along  with  judgment  the 
very  best.  It  was  in  allusion  to  the  labors  with  which 
she  overburdened  herself  that  she  received  the  charac- 
teristic epithet.3 

To  possess  a  picture  true  and  complete  of  the  convent 
of  Paray,  we  must  add  that  from  the  first  days  was 
established  in  it  a  boarding-school  to  which  the  great 
families  of  the  Charolais,  of  the  Maconnais,  of  the 
Autunesse  hastened  to  send  their  daughters,  too  happy 
at  being  able  to  confide  them  to  women  like  Mother  de 
Levis-Chateaumorand,  Sister  Marie-Catherine  du  Chail- 
loux,  Sister  de  Vichy-Chamron,  Sister  d'Athose,  Sister 

1  Circular  of  February  20,  1738. 

2  Circular  of  March  23,  1725. 

3  Ibid. 


90  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

de  Damas,  Sister  de  Coligny,  and  so  many  others,  so 
pious,  so  distinguished  in  gifts  of  mind  and  heart,  who 
in  abandoning  the  world  had  not  parted  with  their 
charms  nor  dispossessed  themselves  of  their  talents. 
We  shall  mention  only  one  of  these  little  boarders, 
Marie-Madeleine  de  Chaugy,  whom  St.  Chantal  found 
there  on  her  last  visit,,  whom  she  took  with  her  to 
Annecy,  and  whom  later  on  we  know  as  so  great  a 
religious  and  so  brilliant  a  writer. 

Such  was  the  convent  of  Paray.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  fervent  of  the  Grder,  one  of  the  most  generous. 
They  called  it  "  dear  Paray,"  and  "  the  Tabor  of  Supe- 
rioresses," on  account  of  the  sweet  union  and  perfect 
obedience  of  the  Sisters.  God  visibly  blessed  this 
house,  though  none  knew  as  yet  His  mysterious  de- 
signs upon  it.  Finally,  when  all  was  ready,  May  25, 
1671,  the  doors  of  the  sanctuary  opened,  and  the  King 
of  Love  entered  "  dear  Paray"  to  introduce  therein  His 
well-beloved.1 

Margaret  was  then  twenty-three  years  old;  and, 
although  no  correct  likeness  has  been  left  us  of  her,  we 
may  picture  her  to  ourselves  from  what  we  know  of  her 
appearance  by  hearsay.  She  was  tall,  a  little  above  the 
ordinary  height,  and  her  constitution  delicate.  Her 
expressive  face  was  lighted  up  by  soft,  clear  eyes,  and 
her  manners  were  gay  and  graceful,2  her  whole  air 
agreeable  and  vivacious.3  Add  to  this  great  intelli- 
gence, a  judgment  solid,  keen,  and  penetrating,  a  noble 
soul  and  a  great  heart,4  and  we  have  the  portrait  of 
Margaret  Mary  on  her  entrance  at  Paray.     Her  features 

1  Abridgment  of  the  life  and  virtues  of  our  very  virtuous  Mothei 
Margaret-Hieronyme  Hersant,  Superioress  of  the  convent  of  Paray. 
(Ann6e  Sainte,  vol.  i.  p.  742.) 

s  Visit  made  at  the  parlor  to  Margaret  Mary  by  P6re  Leau,  S.J. 
(Vie  de  la  Bienheureuse,  by  Pere  Daniel,  p.  352.) 

3  Deposition  of  Mother  Greyfie. 

4  Vie  de  la  Bienheureuse,  par  P.  Croiset. 


The  Convent  of  Par  ay.  91 

bore  the  impress  of  the  most  lively  piety,  but  she  had 
not  yet  "  that  incomparable  recollection,1  that  meek 
and  humble  exterior,2  that;  air  of  lowliness  even  to  the 
centre  of  her  nothingness"3  by  which  later  on  she  was 
distinguished.  The  Sisters  extended  to  her  that  tender 
and  maternal  welcome  that  all  young  girls,  after  tearing 
themselves  from  the  embraces  of  their  families,  received 
upon  their  arrival  at  the  convent.  They  surrounded 
her  with  kindness  and  affection;  but  none  suspected 
the  treasure  with  which  God  had  just  enriched  their 
humble  convent. 

1  Deposition  of  Sister  Anne-Alexis  de  Mareschalle. 

2  Visit  made  to  the  parlor  by  the  Rev.  Fathers  Villette  and  Croiset. 

3  Circular  of  March  23,  1725. 


92  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MARGARET  MARY'S  NOVITIATE— GOD  PREPARES  HER 
FOR  THE  GREAT  MISSION  ABOUT  TO  BE  ENTRUSTED 
TO   HER— HER   PROFESSION. 

May  25,  1671-November  6,  1672. 

"Ecce  venio  ad  te  quern  amavi,  quem  quaesivi,  quem  semper 
optavi." 

"  Behold,  I  come  to  thee  whom  I  have  loved,  whom  I  have  sought, 
whom  I  have   always  desired." — Rom.  Brev.y  Ant.  of  St.  Agnes. 

HE  first  word  addressed  to  Margaret  by  the  ven- 
erable Mother  Thouvant,  the  day  after  the  entrance 
of  the  former  at  Paray,  will  ever  remain  celebrated. 
Margaret,  inflamed  with  the  desire  of  giving  herself  en- 
tirely to  God,  went  to  ask  her  mistress  by  what  means 
she  should  do  so,  imploring  her  especially  to  teach  her 
the  secret  of  making  prayer.  Mother  Thouvant  replied: 
"  Go  place  yourself  before  God  like  canvas  before  a 
painter" — words  brief  but  full,  in  which  Margaret  dis- 
covered the  whole  secret  of  prayer.1  To  kneel  at  the 
Lord's  feet,  to  contemplate  Him,  to  allow  His  holy 
image  to  be  impressed  upon  us;  and  for  that  end  to 
present  Him  a  soul  simple,  recollected,  pure  like  those 
beautiful  silver  plates  on  which,  thanks  to  the  discov- 
eries of  modern  science,  only  the  perfect  image  can  be 

1  The  expression  une  toile  d'attente,  which  may  be  translated  "  pre- 
pared canvas,"  was  current  in  the  convent  of  Paray  as  one  of  its  most 
ancient  traditions.  In  1628  one  of  its  religious  foundresses  fell  ill. 
During  her  fearful  torments  she  was  heard  to  cry  out:  "  O  sweet 
hand  of  my  Spouse,  sketch  !  sketch  !"  The  Superioress  asked  her 
what  she  meant  by  those  words.  "  Ah,  Mother,"  she  answered,  "I 
mean  I  am  before  God  as  canvas  under  the  hand  of  a  painter.  I  am 
supplicating  Him  to  delineate  in  me  the  perfect  image  of  my  crucified 
Jesus."     (Ann6e  Sainte,  vol.  x.  p.  313.) 


Her  Novitiate  and  her  Profession.  93 

depicted, — behold  the  true  method  of  prayer.  Mar- 
garet went  to  prostrate  herself  at  the  Lord's  feet,  and  to 
fulfil  the  word  of  her  instructress.  "  As  soon  as  I  knelt 
before  Him,"  she  said,  "  my  Sovereign  Master  made 
known  to  me  that  my  soul  was  the  canvas  on  which  He 
desired  to  paint  the  features  of  His  suffering  life;  of 
that  life  which  He  passed  until  its  consummation  in 
love,  silence,  and  sacrifice.  But  perfectly  to  produce 
these  features,  He  had  first  to  purify  it  from  every  stain, 
from  every  affection  to  earthly  things,  from  love  of  self 
and  of  creatures,  to  whom  I  was  still  greatly  inclined."  l 
From  this  moment  Margaret  felt  enkindled  within 
her  so  ardent  a  desire  for  suffering  that  rest  was  no 
longer  hers.  One  thought  possessed  her  soul,  and  that 
was  how  should  she  crucify  herself  for  a  God  who  had 
allowed  Himself  to  be  crucified  for  love  of  her.  To  no 
purpose  had  she  guarded  inviolably  the  white  robe  of 
baptism;  to  no  purpose  had  she  at  the  age  of  three 
made  a  vow  of  virginity,  and  renewed  it  at  six;  to  no 
purpose  at  twenty-three  had  she  placed  between  her- 
self and  the  world  the  impenetrable  cloister-grate:  all 
this  was  too  little  for  the  flame  now  kindled  within  her. 
Her  life,  though  so  pure,  filled  her  with  horror.  She 
burned  to  wash  in  her  tears  and  bathe  in  her  own  blood, 
that  by  so  doing  she  might  purge  from  her  veins  the 
last  vestige  of  sin.  O  tears  of  Margaret  Mary!  blood- 
stained scourges,  avenging  whips,  insatiable  thirst  for 
humiliation  and  penance;  holy  industry  to  purify  and 
adorn  her  soul  for  the  coming  of  the  Spouse!  How 
shall  I  describe  you?  St.  Francis  de  Sales  himself  was 
necessary  to  interpose  limits  to  the  young  postulant's 
ardor.  One  day  he  had  smilingly  said  to  his  daughters 
gathered  around  him  that  if,  in  order  to  assume  aus- 
terities contrary  to  their  Rules,  they  ever  forgot  the 
spirit  of  moderation  and  sweetness  in  which  he  desired 
them  to  live,  he  would  return  and  make  so  much  noise 

1  Memoire,  p.  313. 


94  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

in  their  dormitories  as  to  make  them  readily  understand 
that  they  were  acting  against  his  will.  Margaret  knew 
something  of  this.  "My  blessed  Father,"  said  she, 
"  reproved  me  so  sternly  for  going  beyond  the  limits  of 
obedience  that  I  have  never  since  had  the  courage  to 
repeat  the  offence."  "  Ah,  what,  my  daughter,"  9aid  he 
to  me,  "  do  you  think  to  please  God  by  trespassing  the 
bounds  of  obedience?  Obedience,  2nd  not  the  practice 
of  austerities,  sustains  this  congregation."  ' 

But  if  St.  Francis  de  Sales  could  interfere  to  moderate 
this  thirst  for  immolation  and  penance  which  awoke  in 
Margaret's  heart  stronger  than  ever  on  the  day  she 
crossed  the  threshold  of  the  convent  door,  he  had  only  to 
bless  and  encourage  another  desire  that  appeared  at  the 
same  time:  that  of  casting  herself  headlong,  as  she  said, 
into  obedience,  humility,  self-contempt,  and  the  attain- 
ing, as  perfectly  as  she  could,  the  perfection  of  his  holy 
Institute.  To  be  a  religious  only  by  halves  horrified  her. 
And,  indeed,  it  is  scarcely  worth  one's  while  to  leave 
the  world  for  so  little!  The  daughters  of  St.  Francis  de 
Sales  were  styled  at  that  time  "  The  Holy  Maries"  and 
Margaret  resolved  to  be,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word, 
a  holy  Mary.  We  shall  soon  see  whether  or  not  she  suc- 
ceeded. 

Three  months  passed  in  those  first  efforts,  at  the  end 
of  which  the  nuns  gave  her  the  holy  habit,  on  the  feast 
of  St.  Louis,  August  25,  1671.  No  details  of  this  cere- 
mony have  been  preserved.  Her  sister-novices  tell  us, 
however,  in  their  deposition  that  her  countenance 
breathed  but  modesty  and  humility,  and  that  a  joyous 
light  played  on  every  feature.2  This  was  but  a  feeble 
indication  of  what  was  passing  in  the  depths  of  her  heart; 
for  on  this  same  day  the  Lord  showed  Himself  to  her  as 
the  true  Lover  of  her  soul,  as  the  One  whom  she  had 
chosen  above  all  others,  as  the  One  that  would  indemnify 

1  Memoire,  p.  314. 

2  Process  ot  171 5,  Deposition  ot  Sister  Contois. 


Her  Novitiate  and  her  Profession.  95 

her  for  all  that  she  had  left  for  Him.  "  My  Divine  Mas- 
ter," she  said,  "  let  me  see  that  this  was  the  time  of  our 
betrothal,  and,  like  the  most  ardent  of  lovers,  He  made 
me  taste  what  was  sweetest  in  the  sweetness  of  His 
love."  "  Indeed,"  she  adds,  "  His  favors  were  so  excess- 
ive that  they  frequently  transported  my  soul,  and  ren- 
dered me  incapable  of  acting.  This  caused  me  so  deep 
confusion  that  I  dared  not  show  my  face."1  Torrents 
of  tears  flowed  at  times  from  her  eyes,  and  again  her 
countenance  sparkled  like  a  star.  She  was,  for  the  most 
part,  so  absorbed  that  she  seemed  to  be  no  longer  or. 
earth.  This  state  was  so  noticeable  that  the  Sisters, 
astonished,  began  to  say  to  themselves:  "What  is  this 
little  novice  about?     What  is  going  on  within  her?" 

What  was  passing  in  Margaret's  soul  none  knew  at 
that  time.  It  was  only  long  after  that  obedience,  more 
powerful  than  humility,  wrested  from  her  the  secret  of 
the  wonders  with  which  she  was  honored  in  those  first 
days.2  She  had,  indeed,  hardly  taken  the  habit  when 
she  received  from  God  an  extraordinary  grace,  one  very 
rare  in  the  lives  of  the  saints.  The  Lord  began  to  ap- 
pear to  her,  not  from  time  to  time  and  from  afar,  as  we 
read  in  the  life  of  St.  Catharine  of  Siena  and  of  St. 
Teresa,  but  in  a  constant  and  ever-present  manner.3 
"  I  saw  Him,"  she  said,  "  I  felt  Him  near  me,  and  I 
understood  Him  much  better  than  if  I  had  seen  and 
heard  Him  with  my  corporal  senses.  Had  it  been  by 
the  latter,  I  should  have  been  able  to  distract  my  atten- 
tion, to  turn  away  from  it;  but  not  having  any  part  in 
it,  I  could  not  prevent  this  kind   of  communication." 

1  Memoire,  p.  314. 

2  Memoire  of  Mother  Greyfie  on  the  life  and  virtues  of  our  pious 
Sister  Margaret  Mary.  This  Memoire,  of  thirty  pages,  is  very  pre- 
cious.    We  shall  frequently  quote  from  it. 

3  It  would  seem,  at  first  sight,  that  this  admirable  privilege  was  not 
conferred  on  Margaret  Mary  till  after  her  profession.  She  does  not,  in 
fact,  mention  it  until  this  time.  But  in  two  other  places  she  says  ex- 
pressly that  she  enjoyed  it  even  before  that  event. 


96  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

il  He  honored  me,"  she  adds,  "  with  His  conversation 
sometimes  as  a  friend,  sometimes  as  an  ardently  loving 
spouse,  or  as  a  tender  father  full  of  love  for  his  only 
child,  and  in  many  other  ways."  ' 

There  were  in  this  rare  and  marvellous  privilege,  in 
this  Divine  Presence,  less  seen  than  felt,  though  con- 
tinual and  penetrating,  two  diverse  aspects,  like  two 
poles,  that  the  Lord  showed  her  in  turn.  Margaret 
Mary,  not  knowing  how  to  define  them,  called  one  the 
sanctity  of  justice,  the  other  the  sanctity  of  love.  The 
first,  the  sanctity  of  justice,  made  her  tremble  at  the 
sight  of  His  infinite  Majesty.  He  impressed  on  her 
words  cannot  say  what  sentiment  of  annihilation,  which 
made  her  long  to  hide  in  the  depths  of  her  own  noth- 
ingness. She  dared  remain  only  on  her  knees  before 
this  awful  Majesty.  A  number  of  witnesses  deposed  at 
the  process  of  canonization  that  when  alone,  working, 
reading,  or  writing,  she  always  knelt  on  the  ground  as  if 
overwhelmed  with  respect  before  the  invisible  presence 
of  an  invisible  Being.  "She  was  so  united  to  God," 
said  Sister  Marie-Nicole  de  la  Faige,  "  that,  whether 
working,  writing,  or  reading,  she  was  always  on  her 
knees  with  such  recollection  as  one  might  expect  to  see 
in  church."  The  deponent  adds  that  several  times  she 
beheld  her  for  three  or  four  consecutive  hours  in  the 
same  position,  on  her  knees,  immovable,  absorbed  in 
God;  and  she  was  often  found  bathed  in  tears.2  "I 
was  often  witness  of  the  fact,"  said  Sister  Marie  Cheva- 
lier de  Montrouan,  an  Ursuline  and  an  old  pupil  of  the 
Visitation  of  Paray,  "  that  Sister  Margaret  Mary  always 
worked  on  her  knees.  Her  recollection  was  such  that 
curiosity  often  impelled  me  to  gaze  at  her  a  long  time, 
and  I  used  to  invite  my  little  companions  to  come 
look  at  her.     This  they  did,  though  unperceived  by  her, 

1  Memoire,  p.  319. 

9  Process  of  1715,  Deposition  of    Sister    Marie-Nicole  de  la  Faige 
des  Claines. 


Chapel  in  Novitiate  of  Paray-le-Monial  in  which 
St.  Margaret  Mary  began  her  religious  life. 


Her  Novitiate  and  her  Profession.  97 

so  absorbed  was  she  in  God." '  "  This  union  with 
God,"  says  another  witness,  "  was  such  that  one  might 
say  she  preserved  it  even  in  sleep."  3 

But  working  on  her  knees  through  respect  for  the  in- 
finite Majesty  that  everywhere  accompanied  her,  was 
in  Margaret  the  least  of  the  effects  of  the  sanctity  of 
justice.  She  would  have  wished  to  annihilate  herself 
before  that  Presence;  and  she  would  have  desired  that 
every  fibre  of  her  being  might  be  destroyed,  since  she 
saw  not  one  that  was  pure.  Not  being  able  to  effect 
this,  she  tried,  at  least,  to  immolate  and  sacrifice  herself. 
"  If  we  had  not  snatched  the  scourge  from  her  hands," 
says  Mother  Greyfie,  "  her  blood  would  have  never 
ceased  to  flow."3 

Behold  what  the  sight  of  that  which  she  called 
"the  sanctity  of  justice"  produced  in  her!  If  the 
Lord  then  depicted  under  her  view  "  the  sanctity  of 
love,"  it  was  as  if  He  enkindled  a  star  before  her  a 
thousand  times  more  brilliant.  The  sight  of  justice 
and  of  the  Divine  Majesty  may  be  supported;  but  not 
that  of  infinite  love.  To  be  loved  on  earth,  to  be  loved 
by  a  being  noble,  elevated,  distinguished  ;  to  be  faithful- 
ly loved,  loved  devotedly, — oh,  what  enchantment!  But 
to  be  loved  by  God — and  loved  even  to  folly!  Mar- 
garet's heart  dissolved  at  the  thought,  and,  like  St. 
Philip  Neri  and  St.  Francis  Xavier,  she  cried  out  to 
God:  "  Withhold,  O  my  God,  these  torrents  that  ingulf 
me,  or  enlarge  my  capacity  to  receive  them  !  "  ' 

But  the  benign  Saviour  was  not  satisfied  with  accom- 
panying the  young  novice  at  every  step,  darting  on  her 
at  every  turn  rays  of  His  love  and  justice.  He  appeared 
to  her  from  time  to  time  visibly.  He  spoke  to  her,  en- 
couraged her  in  her  difficulties,  consoled  her  in  her 
sacrifices,  and  reproved  her  for  her  faults.    One  day  when 

1  Process  of  171 5,  Deposition  of  Sister  Marie-Nicole  de  la  Faige  des 
Claines. 
i  Ibid.  3  Mother  Greyfie's  MSmoire. 

•  MSmoire  of  Mother  Greyfte.  p.  Xl*i 


98  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

she  was  yielding  to  some  little  negligence,  "  Learn," 
said  He  to  her,  "  that  I  am  a  holy  Master,  who  teaches 
sanctity.  I  am  pure  and  cannot  suffer  the  least  stain." 
This  was  said  in  so  stern  a  tone  that  there  was  no  sor- 
row, no  suffering  she  would  not  have  preferred.1  An- 
other day  when  she  seated  herself  to  say  her  Rosary, 
He  appeared  and  darted  upon  her  a  glance  in  which 
was  mingled  so  much  love  and  anger  that,  twenty  years 
after,  she  trembled  with  fear  and  happiness  at  its  re- 
membrance. Again,  she  tells  us:  "  Once  I  yielded  to 
an  emotion  of  vanity  in  speaking  of  myself.  O  God, 
how  many  tears  this  fault  caused  me! — for  when  next 
alone  He  reproved  me  with:  *  What  art  thou,  O  dust 
and  ashes,  and  in  what  dost  thou  glory,  since  thou  hast 
of  thyself  naught  but  nothingness  ?  That  thou  mayest 
never  lose  sight  of  what  thou  art,  I  shall  place  before 
thy  eyes  a  picture  of  thyself.'  And  then  He  allowed 
me  to  see  what  I  am.  The  sight  filled  me  with  surprise 
and  created  in  me  such  horror  of  self,  that  if  He  had 
not  sustained  me,  I  should  have  swooned  with  grief. 
It  was  by  suffering  such  as  this  that  He  punished  the 
least  emotion  of  self-complacency.  This  forced  me  to 
say  to  Him  sometimes:  'Alas,  O  my  God,  either  let 
me  die,  or  hide  from  me  this  picture!  I  cannot  behold 
it  and  live.  The  sight  inspired  me  with  hatred  and 
vengeance  against  myself;  whilst,  on  the  other  hand, 
obedience  did  not  permit  me  to  perform  the  rigorous 
penances  that  they  suggested.  I  cannot  express  all 
that  I  suffered."  2 

If,  however,  the  Lord  was  severe  toward  faults  against 
the  virtue  of  religion,  faults  against  respect  before  the 
Blessed  Sacrament,  for  defects  of  uprightness,  of  purity 
of  intention,  of  humility,  nothing  could  equal  His  in- 
flexible severity  when  there  was  question  of  faults 
against  obedience,  apart  from  which  the  greatest  virtues 
become  crimes;  the  most  costly  sacrifice,  fruits  of  cor- 

1  Me moire  of  Mother  Greyfie,  p.  323.  8  Memoire,  p.  330. 


Her  Novitiate  and  her  Profession.  99 

ruprion  deserving  only  His  wrath.  "  You  deceive 
yourself,"  said  He  to  her,  "  in  thinking  to  please  Me  by 
such  actions  and  mortifications.  I  am  much  more 
pleased  to  see  a  soul  take  some  little  alleviation  through 
obedience  than  to  overwhelm  herself  with  austerities 
and  fasts  by  her  own  will."1  "All  this  the  Lord  said 
to  me  so  frequently,  so  distinctly,  in  terms  so  precise, 
under  figures  so  touching,,  that  I  determined,"  said  she, 
"to  die  rather  than  trespass,  however  little,  the  limits  of 
obedience."  2 

Tender  and  good  to  this  soul  as  toward  all  others, 
though  operating  in  her  a  little  more,  since  she  was 
destined  for  a  grand  and  perilous  mission,  the  Lord 
formed  her  Himself.  He  aided  her  to  ascend  rapidly 
the  first  degrees  of  perfection,  and  fitted  her  gradually 
to  receive  in  humilit)'  and  entire  self-forgetfulness  His 
divine  communications.  "  Nothing  was  difficult  to 
me,"  she  writes,  "because  at  this  time  Jesus  steeped 
the  severity  of  my  sufferings  in  the  sweetness  of  His 
love.  I  frequently  besought  Him  to  withdraw  that 
sweetness  from  me,  that  I  might  taste  the  bitterness  of 
His  anguish,  the  pangs  of  His  death.  But  He  bade  me 
submit  to  His  conduct,  and  said  that  I  should  see  later 
how  wise  and  able  a  director  He  is  who  knows  how  to 
guide  souls  when,  forgetful  of  self,  they  abandon  them- 
selves to  Him."  3 

Whilst  things  were  thus  going  on  in  the  soul  of  Mar- 
garet Mary,  the  Sisters,  who  saw  only  the  exterior,  be- 
gan to  experience  astonishment  and  alarm.  In  vain 
did  the  humble  novice  try  to  hide  the  graces  with  which 
she  was  inundated.  They  could  not  be  concealed 
What  most  astonished  the  Sisters  was,  not  only  the 
long  hours  that  she  passed  on  her  knees  in  the  choir 
or  in  her  cell,  her  face  radiant,  her  eyes  full  of  tears, 
but  the  state  of  constant  abstraction  from  which  it  was 
necessary  to  arouse  her.     Her  work  fell  from  her  hands, 

1  M6moire  p.  324.  9  Ibid.  3  Ibid.,  p.  325. 


IOO  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

and  she  forgot  everything.  The  poor  child's  soul  was 
in  heaven,  and  she  knew  but  imperfectly  how  to  con- 
duct herself  on  earth. 

Her  Superiors  were  still  more  disquieted  than  the 
Sisters.  From  the  very  first,  Mother  Thouvant,  the 
mistress  of  novices,  thought  it  her  duty  to  inform  Mar- 
garet that  her  manner  of  acting  was  not  in  accordance 
with  the  spirii  of  the  Visitation,  and  that  if  she  did  not 
change  she  could  not  be  admitted  to  profession.1 

The  words  threw  Margaret  into  great  desolation  of 
soul,  and  she  did  her  best  to  change  her  manner  of  life. 
But  how  accomplish  it?  "This  spirit,"  she  said,  "  had 
already  acquired  such  ascendency  over  mine  that  I 
could  no  longer  control  it,  any  more  than  my  other 
powers  which  I  felt  absorbed  in  it."2 

What  the  venerable  Mother  Thouvant  desired,  and 
very  justly  too,  of  one  so  young  and  inexperienced  was 
the  exterior  renunciation  of  extraordinary  lights,  and 
the  practice  of  prayer  according  to  the  simple  way  in 
which  the  other  novices  were  instructed.  Margaret  did 
not  hesitate  to  obey,  but  her  efforts  were  fruitless.  "  I 
made,"  she  said,  "  every  effort  to  follow  the  method  of 
prayer  taught  me,  along  with  other  practices;  but  my 
mind  retained  nothing  of  all  those  teachings.  The 
beautiful  points  of  prayer  vanished,  and  I  could  neither 
learn  nor  retain  anything  but  what  my  Divine  Master 
taught  me.  This  made  me  suffer  greatly,  for  His  opera- 
tions in  me  were  frustrated  as  much  as  possible,  and  I 
had  to  resist  Him  as  much  as  I  was  able."3  It  was  like 
Jacob's  wrestling  with  the  angel.  Margaret  Mary  came 
forth  bruised  and  wounded,  though  having  gained  more 
and  more  the  heart  of  her  mistress  by  her  admirable 
obedience. 

To  assist  her  in   her  efforts,  and   to  aid  her  to   over- 
come, if  possible,  her  state   of  absorption,   which  was 
what  the  Community  most  remarked,  Margaret  Mary 
1  M6moire,  p.  314.  8  Ibid.,  p.  20.  *  Ibid.,  p.  320. 


Her  Novitiate  and  her  Profession.         I  o  I 

was  given  as  aid  to  Sister  Catherine-Augustine  Marest, 
the  infirmarian,  who  had  instructions  to  keep  her  con- 
stantly employed,  and  not  to  allow  her  a  moment's 
rest.  This  Sister  Marest  was  one  marvellously  well 
chosen  for  her  work.  She  was  "  incomparable  in 
strength  of  body  and  mind;"  greatly  given  to  the  active 
life,  very  little  to  the  contemplative;  caring  little  for 
the  mysteries  of  direction,  as  she  pleasantly  said;  know- 
ing only  her  Rule,  nothing  more,  nothing  less;  but 
nobly  observing  that  Rule  even  to  heroism.  To  all 
this  she  joined  a  love  of  God,  not  tender  nor  contem- 
plative, but  warm  and  ardent.  She  was  a  true  Martha 
with  whom  was  now  associated  a  true  Mary.  And 
it  turned  out  just  as  we  read  in  the  Gospel.  Martha 
complained  of  Mary,  who,  transported,  in  spite  of  her- 
self, with  excessive  joy,  constantly  relapsed  from  the 
activity  imposed  upon  her  into  the  sweet  sleep  of 
contemplation.1  If  permitted  to  enter  the  choir  to 
hear  the  subject  of  meditation  read,  scarcely  was  it  over 
before  Margaret  Mary  was  instructed  to  go  sweep  the 
corridors,  clean  the  cells,  weed  the  garden,  etc.  Over- 
burdened with  work,  and  longing  for  that  prayer  which 
she  had  not  been  allowed  to  make,  she  went  to  her  mis- 
tress to  beg  time  to  resume  it.  But  the  latter  repri- 
manded her  sharply.  She  told  her  that  it  was  strange 
she  knew  not  how  to  unite  prayer  and  labor,  and  sent 
her  to  other  occupations  more  numerous  and  more  over- 
whelming. 

But  these  Sisters  did  well.  The  Lord,  who  was  en- 
riching -Margaret  Mary's  soul,  reigned  supreme  Master 
in  it  and,  in  spite  of  every  obstacle,  inebriated  it  with 
delight.  Pacing  the  corridors,  broom  in  hand,  whilst 
the  Sisters  were  sweetly  kneeling  at  the  foot  of  the  holy 
altar,  Margaret  Mary  had  ever  before  her  eyes  the  in- 
visible Object  of  her  love.  She  contemplated  Him,  she 
listened  to  Him,  she  lived  under  the  charm  of  the  per 

'  Circular  of  December  17,  171 7.     Annee  Sainte,  vol.  ii.  p.  242. 


102  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoquc. 

petual  vision  granted  her  by  her  Celestial  Spouse.   Work- 
ing, she  sang: 

"  The  more  they  contradict  my  love, 

The  more  that  love  intlames. 
By  day.  by  night,  they  torture  me, 

But  cannot  break  my  chains. 
My  Lover's  love's  of  such  a  kind, 

The  more  I  suffer  pain. 
The  closer  does  He  my  poor  heart 

Unto  His  own  enchain."  ' 

The  anniversary  of  her  admission  to  the  habit  was  now 
approaching,  August  25,  167:,  and  yet  she  was  not  called 
to  her  holy  profession.  The  embarrassment  of  the 
Community  increased  every  day.  The  Sisters  admired 
her  virtues;  her  unbounded  humility;  her  obedience; 
her  love  of  Rule,  so  much  the  more  striking  as  it  seemed 
to  lead  her  in  the  most  extraordinary  ways;  and  her 
charity,  which  placed  her  at  the  service  of  all.  She  was 
not  very  skilful  in  ordinary  domestic  ways,  but  she  was 
so  good,  so  eager, that  whilst  thanking  her  for  services 
badly  rendered,  the  recipient  could  not  fail  to  be 
touched  by  her  goodness  of  heart.  Mother  Hersant  did 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  Margaret  Mary  was  called  to 
extraordinary  sanctity;2  and  from  two  or  three  circum- 
stances it  could  be  seen  that  she  was  capable  of  the 
most  heroic  sacrifices.  Once,  for  example,  she  struggled 
against  a  natural  repugnance  till  she  fainted.  Again, 
being  tenderly  attached  to  Sister  Marie-Madeleine  des 
Escures,  one  of  the  companions  of  her  novitiate,  she  was 
warned  interiorly  that  this  sweet  union  saddened  the 
jealous  love  of  her  Divine  Master:  and  she  resolved  to 
disengage  her  heart  from  it.  For  this  three  months  of 
battle  were  necessary,  so  affectionate  was  she  by  nature. 
But  in  this  point,  as  in  all  others,  she  triumphed;  for 
neither  repugnances  nor  sympathies  were  capable  of 
daunting  her  courage.  Nevertheless,  although  it  is 
'  Memoire,  p.  315-  '  Process,  p.  71. 


Her  Novitiate  and  her  Profession.         1 03 

customary  at  the  Visitation  for  the  profession  to  take 
place  one  year  and  one  day  after  the  date  of  reception, 
August  25,  1672,  rolled  by  without  Margaret  Mary's 
having  had  the  happiness  of  pronouncing  her  holy  vows. 
"I  have  learned  from  many  old  Sisters,"  says  one  of 
the  witnesses,  "  that  her  profession  was  deferred  only  on 
account  of  her  extraordinary  ways;  for,  as  to  the  rest, 
they  esteemed  her  a  saint."  '  "  I  have  heard  from  the 
Superioress  and  mistress  of  novices,  who  conferred  to- 
gether about  the  Blessed  One,"  says  Sister  Jeanne- 
Marie  Contois,  "  that  she  would  one  day  be  a  saint. 
But  she  was  so  extraordinary  that  perhaps  she  was  not 
intended  to  live  out  her  life  at  the  Visitation." 2  "  Mar- 
garet Mary,"  says  a  third  witness,  "  was  an  example  of 
fervor.  All  had  an  excellent  opinion  of  her,  though 
all  did  not  approve  her  extraordinary  ways."  3  "  The 
Blessed  One,"  says  a  fourth  witness,  "  was  astonish- 
ingly fervent  during  her  novitiate.  But  her  extra- 
ordinary ways  made  us  fear."4  All  the  Sisters  spoke  in 
like  manner.  They  reveal  to  us  the  very  just  pre- 
cautions taken  by  the  monastery  in  which  suddenly 
appeared  one  of  the  rarest  phenomena  of  sanctity:  an 
humble  girl  whose  life  was  already  in  heaven,  who  was 
everywhere  accompanied  by  the  visible  presence  of  God  ; 
who  in  the  midst  of  her  Sisters  was  wholly  absorbed, 
her  eyes  suffused  with  tears;  her  countenance  now 
sparkling  like  a  star,  or  cast  down  as  if  in  utter  annihila- 
tion; admirably  obedient,  and  yet  incapable  of  obedi- 
ence; avaricious  of  extraordinary  penances,  and  so 
eager  for  suffering  that  her  Superiors  knew  neither  how 
to  moderate  nor  how  to  satisfy  her.  Assuredly,  if  any 
convent  would  have  hesitated,  for  the  chances  of  error 
are  great  in  things  so  delicate,  how  much  more  the  Visi- 
tation, to  which  St.  Francis  de  Sales  so  much  recom- 
mended humility,  simplicity,  love  of  the  hidden  life,  and 

1  Process,  p.  70.  9  Ibid.,  p.  68. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  72.  4  Ibid.,  p.  73. 


104  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

in  which  he  had  supplicated  the  Sisters  to  conform 
simply  and  purely  to  the  Rule  with  no  innovations! 
One  day,  after  his  holy  Mass,  he  knelt  with  St.  Chantal 
at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  and  both  supplicated  God  never 
to  send  to  the  Visitation  any  extraordinary  grace. 
Thus  the  idea  gradually  took  possession  of  the  Order 
that  the  Visitation  was  not  called  to  brilliant  gifts;  that 
it  was  to  live  hidden  and  obscure,  like  an  humble  little 
violet,  and  leave  to  others  exceptional  favors  and  great 
missions.  Such  thoughts  as  these  gave  rise  to  their  de- 
lay in  allowing  Margaret  Mary  to  pronounce  her  vows; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  when  they  fixed  their  eyes  upon 
her,  why  were  they  not  reassured  ?  Had  there  ever 
been  a  vocation  more  supernatural,  more  disinterested  ? 
Who  but  God  had  led  Margaret  to  the  Visitation,  of 
which  she  knew  nothing?  Who  enabled  her  to  over- 
come every  obstacle?  If  God  willed  to  make  this  gift 
to  the  Visitation,  why  should  the  Visitation  refuse  it? 
The  Spirit  breatheth  where  it  will.  Love  is  the  master. 
And  already  what  signs  that  the  Spirit  breathing  on 
Margaret  was  truly  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  that  she  was 
conducted  by  His  divine  love! 

Finally  they  decided,  and  after  three  months'  reflec- 
tion she  entered  her  great  retreat,  October  27,  1672,  to 
prepare  for  her  holy  vows.  What  pen  could  portray 
Margaret's  silence,  recollection,  profound  union  with 
the  Lord  during  this  blessed  time?  From  the  second 
day,  abstraction  became  such  that,  in  order  to  moderate 
a  little  the  intensity  of  the  love  that  consumed  her,'  the 
Superioress  sent  her  into  the  field  to  mind  an  ass  and 
its  foal  which  had  been  purchased  for  the  use  of  a  sick 
Sister.  Orders  were  given  the  holy  novice  to  see  that 
the  animals  did  not  enter  the  kitchen-garden  by  which 
the  field  was  surrounded,  and  that  the  enclosure  was 
protected.  Margaret,  in  consequence,  passed  the  day 
in  running  now  after  the  ass,  now  after  the  foal,  both 

1  Contemp.,  p.  37,  note. 


Her  Novitiate  and  her  Profession.         105 

strongly  tempted  by  the  garden-herbs.  The  fervent  nov- 
ice would  unquestionably  have  much  preferred  being 
on  her  knees  at  the  foot  of  the  holy  altar;  but  she  was 
where  God  wished  her  to  be,  and  what  more  could  she 
desire?  "If,"  said  she  simply,  "  Saul  found  the  king- 
dom of  Israel  when  seeking  his  father's  asses,  why 
should  I  not  obtain  the  kingdom  of  heaven  while  run- 
ning after  these  animals?"  She  did,  indeed,  find  it;  foi 
it  was  in  this  place,  in  the  midst  of  these  humble  occu- 
pations, that,  kneeling  in  a  little  cluster  of  hazel-nut 
trees  which  have  survived  the  wreck  of  time  '  and  which 
are  still  pointed  out  to  the  pilgrim,  that  she  received 
one  of  the  greatest  favors  of  her  life.  She  has,  however, 
given  it  to  us  in  terms  too  brief  and,  above  all,  too  ob- 
scure. "  I  was  so  contented  in  this  occupation,"  she 
said,  "  and  my  Sovereign  kept  me  such  faithful  company, 
that  the  running  did  rot  disturb  me.  It  was  whilst 
thus  employed  that  I  received  favors  greater  than  I  had 
ever  before  experienced.  It  was  then  that  He  made 
known  to  me  particulars  of  His  holy  Passion  and  death 
never  before  communicated  to  me.  But  to  write  them 
would  be  interminable.  Their  number  makes  me  sup- 
press all.  I  shall  only  say  that  it  was  this  communica- 
tion that  filled  me  with  such  love  for  the  cross  that  I 
cannot  live  one  moment  without  suffering.  But  this 
suffering  must  be  in  silence,  without  relief,  consolation, 
or  compassion.  I  long  to  die  with  the  Sovereign  of  my 
soul,  overwhelmed  by  crosses  of  all  kinds,  by  oppro- 
brium, forgetfulness,  humiliation,  and  contempt.2 

The  end  of  this  retreat  corresponded  to  its  com- 
mencement. Never  did  greater  delights  inebriate  a 
soul.  Margaret  Mary  knew  all  the  sweetness  of  love, 
the  most  tender,  most  ardent,  most  divinely  consoling. 

1  This  cluster  still  exists.  On  the  enormous  roots  that  support  it  are 
nourished  the  strong  green  branches.  Their  leaves  are  distributed  to 
pilgrims. 

2  Memoire,  p.  322. 


io6  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

All  was,  however,  mingled  with  the  assurance  of  future 
crosses  that  would  equal  in  bitterness  the  sweetness  she 
had  just  tasted  from  the  divine  caresses.  . 

At  last,  November  6,  1672,  in  the  present  chapel  of  the 
convent  of  Paray,  at  the  grate  still  in  existence,  Mar- 
garet Mary  pronounced  her  holy  vows.  The  details  left 
us  of  this  ceremony  are  as  meagre  as  those  of  her  taking 
the  habit.  But  better  than  these,  we  know  perfectly  the 
sentiments  that  filled  her  heart,  and  the  graces  with 
which  she  was  inundated.  The  Lord  appeared  to  her 
and  said:  "Up  to  this  moment  I  have  been  only  thy 
Fiance.  I  shall  henceforth  be  thy  Spouse."  He  prom- 
ised never  to  leave  her,  but  to  treat  her  as  His  spouse, 
which  promise  He  began  at  once  to  fulfil  "  in  a  man- 
ner," she  says,  "  that  I  feel  incapable  of  expressing,  and 
of  which  I  shall  only  say  that  He  spoke  to  me  and- 
treated  me  as  a  spouse  of  Tabor."  '  Margaret,  touched 
to  the  depths  of  her  soul,  in  a  transport  of  love  wrote 
with  her  blood  a  total  consecration  of  herself  to  the 
Lord.  This  act  concludes  in  words  that  recall  the  sub- 
lime cry  of  St.  Teresa  or  of  St.  Catharine  of  Siena: 

"  All  in  God,  and  nothing  in  self! 
All  to  God,  and  nothing  to  self! 
All  for  God,  and  nothing  for  self!" 

She  subscribed  herself:  "  His  unworthy  spouse,  SisUsr 
Margaret  Mary,  dead  to  the  world."2 

1  Memoire,  p.  318. 

2  "We  must  here  express  a  deep  regret.  That  sacred  relic  of  the 
soul  and  the  blood  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  is  probably  lost  forever. 
It  was  in  the  possession  of  the  worthy  Mother  Baudron,  Superioress 
of  the  hospital  of  Paray,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution.  She 
knew  well  its  value,  and  refused  to  part  with  it  even  for  one  instant. 
She  consented  to  lend  it  only  on  the  entreaty  of  an  aged  confessor  of 
the  faith,  M.  1'Abbe  Jean  Gaudin,  cure  of  Vaudebarrier,  arch-priest  of 
Charolles.  He  asked  for  it  in  the  same  spirit  that  led  St.  Hugh  when 
dying  to  have  exposed  at  his  bedside  the  relics  of  St.  Marcel,  pope 
and  martyr.     M.  Gaudin  diec'  in  the  odor  of  sanctity,  but  what  has  be- 


Her  Novitiate  and  her  Profession.         107 

We  must  recall  those  words  of  hers  just  read  above 
that  we  may  comprehend  the  true  beauty  of  the  voca- 
tion given  her  by  God.  In  the  day  of  her  youth  the 
Lord  had  said  to  her  :  "  I  shall  be  to  thee  the  most  beau- 
tiful, the  richest,  most  powerful,  most  perfect  of  all  lov- 
ers." 1  On  the  day  of  her  entrance  to  the  novitiate,  He 
added:  "  This  is  the  day  of  our  betrothal."  2  Now  there 
is  only  one  step  more.  "  Until  this  time  I  have  been 
thy  Fiance;  from  this  day  I  wish  to  be  thy  Spouse." 
This  is  the  whole  religious  life;  for  in  the  cloister  as  in  the 
world,  "  It  is  not  good  for  man  to  live  alone."  God,  who 
has  made  us  for  an  infinite  love,  has  placed  in  us  its  hid- 
den sources.  At  six  years  it  begins  to  spring  or  gush 
deeply  and  tenderly.  We  go  out  of  ourselves  to  find 
some  soul  in  sympathy  with  our  own.  Noble  emotion, 
given  by  God  and  worthy  of  Him,  whence  are  born 
family  ties  with  all  its  joys!  But  in  the  multitude  of 
souls  devoured  by  the  want  of  human  sympathy,  who 
are  they  that  look  above  the  earth  ?  Human  hearts  are 
not  deep  enough  for  them,  human  love  not  sufficiently 
strong  nor  beautiful.  They  have  scarcely  seen  the 
world,  and  yet  they  despise  it.  They  have  not  yet 
tasted  the  cup  of  love,  and  still  they  put  it  far  from 
them.  Not  that  they  are  destitute  of  sensibility  and  ten- 
derness; on  the  contrary,  no  heart  is  so  insatiable  as 
theirs;  but  not  for  created  things  they  yearn — beaming 
and  radiant  they  fly  to  offer  their  heart  to  Jesus  Christ. 
Twenty  times  I  have  had  this  sight  under  my  eyes.  I 
have  seen  girls,  young  and  charming,  tearing  themselves 
from  the  embraces  of  father  and  mother,  abandoning  at 
twenty  the  hopes  and  illusions  of  life;  and  it  was  from 
the  greatness  of  their  emotion  at  parting,  the  keen  ten- 
derness of  their  adieux,  that  I  discovered  the  beauty  of 

come  of  the  sacred  blood  whose  presence  enabled  him  to  die  so  well  ?" 
{Histoire  Populaire  de   la  Bienheureuse,  par  M.  1'AbbS  Cucherat,   al 
moner  of  the  hospital  of  Paray,  p.  84.) 

1  Memoire,  p.  305.  2  Ibid.,  p.  314. 


108  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

their  heart  and  the  power  of  the  attraction  that  drew 
them.  Three  or  four  months  pass,  and  behold,  they 
reappear  at  the  choir-grate  for  the  sweet  ceremony  oi 
the  taking  of  the  habit.  Look  at  them!  No  tears  dim 
their  eyes.  Arrayed  as  young  brides,  ornamented  with 
jewels  and  diamonds  that  they  accept  for  one  instant 
for  the  pleasure  of  casting  them  off  publicly  and  tramp- 
ling them  under  foot,  their  brow  bespeaks  serenity  so 
pious  and  so  divine  that  I  have  never  seen  its  like  in  an 
earthly  union.  They  know  to  whom  they  give  them- 
selves! And  when,  after  twelve  months  of  a  second  and 
definite  trial,  they  reappear  at  the  grille  for  the  last  time, 
to  pronounce  the  irrevocable  vows;  when  their  voices 
are  raised  in  the  silence  of  the  holy  assembly  to  say: 
"  O  ye  heavens,  hear  what  I  say,  and  let  the  earth  listen  to 
the  words  of  my  mouth !  It  is  to  Thee,  my  Jesus,  that  my 
heart  speaketh  /" — it  is  not  only  joy,  it  is  enthusiasm  that 
makes  their  heart  beat,  and  that  betrays  in  the  tremu- 
lous tones  of  their  voice  the  divine  passion  that  con- 
sumes them. 

But  who,  then,  is  this  Being,  dead  on  a  gibbet  more 
than  eighteen  hundred  years,  and  who  still  excites  such 
enthusiasm?  Who  is  this  invisible  Lover  hidden  from 
all  eyes,  who  every  day  snatches  from  our  side  and  from 
our  very  heart  beings  the  dearest,  the  purest,  the  most 
charming,  the  most  suited  to  enchant  and  console  our 
life?  Who  is  He?  It  is  He  who  said  to  Margaret  at 
the  age  of  twenty:  "I  shall  be  to  thee  the  most  tender 
of  lovers;"  who  said  to  her  on  the  day  of  taking  the 
habit:  "This  is  the  day  of  our  betrothal;"  who  at  her 
profession  added:  "Till  now  I  have  been  thy  Fiance; 
henceforth  I  wish  to  be  thy  Spouse."  He,  in  fine,  who 
made  such  promises  is  alone  able  to  accomplish  them. 
Whilst  human  loves  perish  one  by  one;  whilst  flowery 
wreaths  fade  on  the  brow  of  the  young  bride;  whilst  all 
other  love  deceives,  because,  alas!  it  promises  more  than 
it  can  give,  and  thus  an  inevitable  melancholy   tinges 


Her  Novitiate  and  her  Profession.        109 

every  earthly  union, — Jesus  Christ,  on  the  contrary, 
throws  around  souls  consecrated  to  Him  a  charm  that 
is  incessantly  renewed.  Young,  intrepid,  and  valiant 
hearts  that  have  left  all  for  Him,  that  can  no  more  de- 
tach themselves  from  Him,  He  unites  to  Himself  by 
sorrow  as  well  as  by  joy;  and,  as  He  is  a  crucified 
Spouse,  whether  He  inebriates  with  consolations  or 
overwhelms  with  sufferings,  He  rejoices  them  all  the 
same. 


1  io  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  A  la  cogue. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FINAL    EXTERIOR     PREPARATIONS.       LAST     FINISHING 
STROKE  WITHIN. 

November  6,  1672— December  27,  1673. 

"  Ego  dormio,  et  cor  meum  vigilat." 

"  I  sleep,  but  my  heart  watcheth."' — Cant.  v.  2. 

"  Satiabor  cum  apparuerit." 

"  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  Thy  glory  shall  appear." — Psalm  xvi.  15 

HE  year  following  the  profession  of  Sister  Mar. 
garet  Mary  resembled  the  first  days  of  spring- 
time when,  after  a  long  and  silent  preparation, 
nature  suddenly  bursts  forth  perfumed  and  blossomed 
under  the  influence  of  a  genial  dew.  Thus  it  was  in  the 
soul  of  our  saintly  professed.  From  the  day  of  her  sol- 
emn vows,  so  rapid  was  her  increase  in  virtue  that  the 
Whole  community  was  astonished  and  touched.  The 
rapidity  of  this  progress  was  understood  later,  for  only 
some  months  then  separated  us  from  the  grand  revela- 
tions of  the  Sacred  Heart.  But  before  that  moment  it  was 
easy  for  observant  minds  to  see  with  what  delicacy  God 
was  preparing  all  things,  that  when  He  should  speak 
His  voice  might  be  heard.  The  day  after  the  Ascension, 
1672,  four  or  five  months  before  Margaret  Mary's  pro- 
fession, the  venerable  Mother  Hersant,  having  completed 
her  six  years  of  government,  was  recalled  to  Paris.  She 
had  not  definitively  decided  Margaret's  vocation,  though 
she  had  given  her  the  habit  and  declared  that  she  would 
some  day  attain  extraordinary  sanctity.  She  was  re- 
placed by  Mother  Marie-Francoise  de  Saumaise,  whom 
God  had  chosen  to  be  the  first  confidant  of  His  intimate 


Final  Exterior  Preparations.  1 1 1 

communications  to  our  saint.  Born  at  Dijon,  in  1620, 
she  was  at  this  time  fifty-two  years  old.  Descended 
from  an  old  parliamentary  family,  she  had  inherited 
their  distinguished  manners  and  solid  judgment.  The 
latter  was  remarked  even  in  her  early  childhood  by 
the  venerable  Mother  de  Chantal,  who  predicted  that 
she  would  some  day  be  one  of  the  best  Superioresses  of 
the  Order.  Though  never  having  exercised  that  charge,, 
she  arrived  at  Paray  marvellously  well  prepared  to  fulfil 
it.  She  was  possessed  of  good  judgment  and  great 
decision  of  character.  With  a  just  mind,  firm  and 
clear,  she  was  full  of  ardor,  tempered,  however,  by  ex- 
ceeding kindness  and  the  rarest  modesty.  To  these 
qualities  she  added  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  Visitan- 
dine  Rules,  and  one  not  less  profound  of  God's  workings 
in  souls.  To  acquire  the  first  science  she  had  been  in  a 
grand  school,  that  of  the  venerable  Mother  Brulard, 
Superioress  of  Dijon.  She  belonged  to  the  old  parlia- 
mentary family  of  Brulards,  in  which  honor  and  justice, 
talent  and  business  qualifications  were  hereditary  with 
virtue.1  And,  as  to  the  second  science,  she  had  ac- 
quired it  at  a  still  higher  school,  one  altogether  in- 
comparable— that  of  Mother  Anne-Seraphine  Boulier, 
Superioress  of  Dijon,  who  has  left  on  prayer  and  the 
love  of  God  pages  truly  sublime,  which  disavow  not 
her  claims  to  being  countrywoman  of  Bossuet.2  Thus 
prepared  by  that  tender  and  delicate  hand  which  does 

1  Annales  du  Monastere  de  la  Visitation  de  Dijon,  published  by 
M.  l'abbe  Colet,  Vicar-General  of  Dijon  (present  Bishop  of  Lucon), 
Dijon,  1854,  chap.  xvii.  and  following.  Mother  Brulard 's  grandmother 
was  that  Mme.  Brulard,  wife  of  the  first  President  of  the  Parliament  of 
Bourgogne,  who  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Mme.  de  Chantal,  and  one 
of  the  dearest  spiritual  daughters  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales. 

2  Vie  de  la  Venerable  Mere  Anne-Seraphine  Boulier,  died  Superi- 
oress of  the  Visitation  of  Dijon,  Sept.  1,  1683.  Mgr.  Colet  has  given 
this  Life  in  the  continuation  of  the  Annales,  p.  271.  He  has  also  given 
those  pages  of  profound  mysticism  known  under  the  name  of  "  Avis 
de  la  Venerable  Mere  Anne-Seraphine  Boulier,"  Annales,  p.  393. 


H2  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

all  with  sweetness  and  strength,  Mother  de  Saumau** 
had  hardly  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  convent  of 
Paray  when  her  eyes  were  fixed  on  this  humble  and  fer- 
vent novice,  then  in  the  eighteenth  month  of  her  novi- 
tiate, and  whose  extraordinary  ways  made  her  the  sub- 
ject of  so  much  inquietude.  Mother  de  Saumaise  was 
not  slow  to  recognize  in  Margaret  Mary  the  character- 
istics of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  it  was  she  who  decided 
her  admission  to  the  holy  profession  of  vows.  She  first 
took  a  precaution  which  most  significantly  reveals  her 
prudence  and  faith.  Margaret,  distressed  at  the  hesita- 
tion of  the  community,  breathed  out  her  sorrow  at  the 
feet  of  her  Divine  Master,  and  said  to  Him:  "  Ah,  Lord, 
Thou  wilt,  then,  be  the  cause  of  my  being  sent  away!" 
The  Lord  reassured  her,  and  charged  her  to  say  to  her 
Superioress  not  to  fear.  Mother  de  Saumaise,  animated 
with  holy  confidence,  replied:  "Very  well;  ask  the  Lord 
as  an  evidence  of  His  promise  to  render  you  useful  to 
the  community  by  the  practice  of  all  our  Rules.  The 
Lord  answered  that  she  would  be  useful  to  the  commun- 
ity in  a  way  they  should  see  later  on.  And  laying  down 
Himself  the  great  law  that  preserves  from  all  illusion, 
He  promised  to  adjust  His  favors  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Rules  and  the  judgment  of  Superiors,  to  whom  He 
wished  her  to  be  submissive  in  all  things.1  We  are  now 
to  see  Mother  Saumaise  directing  our  saint  in  the  midst 
of  her  perplexities  and  trials;  recognizing  the  truth  of 
her  revelations;  and  later,  when  she  shall  have  left 
Paray,  propagating  everywhere  devotion  to  the  Sacred 
Heart,  of  which  she  was  the  first  confidant,  the  first  to 
acknowledge  its  divine  origin. 

But  great  and  providential  as  it  was  to  be  raised  into 
regions  so  high  by  the  support  sent  her  by  God  in 
Mother  de  Saumaise,  this  support  could  not  suffice.  It 
is  not  to  virgins  even  the  purest,  the  most  enlightened, 
that  God  has  given  the  gift  of  discerning  His  ways  and 

1  Memoire,  p.  317. 


St.   Margaret   Mary  Alacoque, 
Religious  of  the  Order  of  the  Visitation. 


Final  Exterior  Preparations.  113 

supernatural  missions  in  His  Church.  This  gift  belongs 
to  those  to  whom  Jesus  Christ  has  said:  "Go  teach  all 
nations."1  Priests  teach  under  the  direction  of  bishops; 
bishops,  subject  to  that  of  the  Pope;  and  the  Pope 
teaches  under  the  infallible  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of 
God.  Explain  the  Scriptures,  scrutinize  public  prophe- 
cies and  private  revelations,  and  let  all  baptized  souls 
render  you,  in  the  limits  of  the  holy  hierarchy,  the 
obedience  due  to  Jesus  Christ.  Such  is  the  divine  con- 
stitution of  the  Church.  Consequently,  after  having 
placed  near  the  humble  Margaret  a  virgin  enlightened 
by  God,  to  console,  sustain,  and  guide,  to  serve  her  as 
a  mother  and  confidant,  it  was  further  necessary  to  ap- 
point a  priest,  to  say  to  her  at  the  destined  hour  the 
word  that  calms  doubts  and  unerringly  points  out  the 
way. 

Such  a  priest  God  chose  from  the  Society  of  Jesus. 
He  desired  by  this  to  recompense  that  valiant  Society 
for  services  rendered  the  Church  in  the  midst  of  the 
great  conflict  of  the  sixteenth  century,  when  it  had  by 
its  illustrious  founder,  his  first  and  heroic  disciples,  and 
its  grand  theologians,  so  powerfully  contributed  to  the 
arrest  of  heresy  and  the  vindication  of  the  faith.  Per- 
haps by  this  most  delicate  attention  God  willed  to 
thank  the  Society  for  the  position  it  assumed  in  the 
seventeenth  century  in  the  terrible  struggle  begun  by 
incipient  Jansenism  against  the  Church.  Without  weak- 
ening the  respect  due  to  the  infinite  majesty  of  God, 
the  Jesuits  ceased  not  to  exalt  His  goodness,  His  ten- 
derness for  sinners,  His  infinite  love.  Even  if  it  were 
true,  in  view  of  that  haughty  rigorism  which  cast  souls 
into  despair,  that  some  of  the  members  of  this  illustrious 
Society,  by  one  of  those  reactions  that  cannot  be  con- 
trolled, should  have  leaned  a  little  too  much  toward  the 
opposite  side  and  rendered  the  road  to  heaven  a  little 
too  easy,  it  must  at  least  be  admitted  that  they  did  "t 
1  St.  Matt,  xxviii.  19. 


ii4  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

not  to  their  own  profit.  Whilst  preaching  moral  sweet- 
ness, t-iey  rigorously  preserved  among  themselves  moral 
severity;  and  neither  the  proximity  of  courts,  the  favor 
of  the  great,  nor  the  wealth  flowing  in  upon  them  from 
the  gratitude  of  the  people,  was  ever  able  to  tarnish  the 
purity  of  morals  or  the  amiable  austerity  and  generous 
fervor  of  the  Society.  Let  us  add  that  as  the  price  of 
so  many  services,  to  recompense  them  for  having  reared 
the  youth  of  all  Europe,  for  having  civilized  Paraguay, 
evangelized  Japan,  shed  their  blood  on  thousands  of  in- 
hospitable regions,  enriched  civilization  by  a  multitude 
of  curious  discoveries,  and,  what  is  much  better,  em- 
balmed the  world  with  the  perfume  of  every  virtue,  the 
Society  of  Jesus  was  to  be  persecuted  and  disgraced, 
its  most  venerable  members  cast  into  prison  or  sent 
into  exile.  It  was  only  just,  therefore,  that  God  should 
give  it  under  circumstances  so  critical  not  only  support 
and  consolation,  but  above  all,  a  public  sign  of  His  love. 
For  reasons  such  as  these,  the  priest  charged  to  recog- 
nize and  proclaim  to  the  world  the  truth  of  the  revela- 
tions of  the  Sacred  Heart  was  taken  from  the  Society 
of  Jesus. 

He  was  called  Claude  de  la  Colombiere,  and  even 
then  his  name  was  not  without  glory.  His  appearance 
in  the  pulpit  was  remarkable.  One  felt  on  beholding 
him  that,  though  fitted  to  shine  in  the  world,  he  was 
one  of  those  refined  natures,  a  being  innocent  and  pure, 
whom  nothing  human  or  vulgar  could  ever  captivate. 
His  distinguished  manners,  his  charming  conversation, 
his  mind  lively  and  polished  by  nature,  his  address  and 
grace  under  every  circumstance,  added  to  the  correct- 
ness of  his  judgment,  were  surpassed  only  by  his  aus- 
terity and  virtue.  Born  in  1641,  he  was  at  this  time 
thirty-two  years  old  ;  and,  though  still  so  young,  had 
just  been  called  by  his  Superiors  to  pronounce  his  last 
vows.  To  those  demanded  of  religious  by  the  Church 
he  added  a  fourth  sufficient  to  frighten  the  most  fervent. 


Final  Exterior  Preparations.  115 

We  have  the  twenty-two  articles  written  by  his  own 
hand  ;  and  we  know  not  if  there  ever  was  any  one  who 
vowed  to  attain  perfection  so  eminent.1  At  the  close  of 
his  great  retreat,  he  was  appointed  Superior,  with  resi- 
dence at  Paray.  He  arrived  there  at  the  time  in  which 
the  third  of  the  three  grand  revelations  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  took  place,  that  which  was  to  be  the  last  in  the 
cycle  of  those  solemn  entertainments. 

Whilst  God  was  thus  preparing  the  support  of  which 
Margaret  was  soon  to  have  need,  He  was  also  putting 
the  finishing  stroke  to  her  own  soul.  Her  novitiate  was 
passed  in  joy  and  consolation  so  great  that,  in  her  ina- 
bility to  sustain  them,  she  cried  out :  "  O  my  God, 
diminish  Thy  favors  or  increase  my  power  to  receive 
them  !"  Delights  continuing  to  inundate  her  soul  after 
her  profession,  she  began  to  be  astonished  and  disquieted. 
She  had  espoused  a  crucified  God,  annihilated,  humili- 
ated, buffeted,  and  she  wished  none  other.  She  com- 
plained to  the  Lord,  saying  :  "  Ah  !  my  God,  Thou  wilt 
never,  then,  permit  me  to  suffer  !"  Then  was  witnessed 
the  beginning  of  a  singular  contest  between  her  and  her 
Spouse.  He  desired  to  overwhelm  her  with  loving 
caresses  and  consolations.  She  desired  only  sorrow, 
contempt,  and  humiliation,  and  that  so  ardently  that 
the  Lord  is  forced  to  yield.  He  withdrew,  but  slowly, 
little  by  little,  like  a  conquered  general  skilfully  retreat- 
ing. Once,  when  He  loaded  her  with  the  delights  of 
Tabor,  which,  on  account  of  the  want  of  conformity  to 
her  wounded  and  crucified  spouse  on  Calvary,  were 
more  painful  to  her  than  death,  He  said  to  her  interiorly: 
"  Let  Me  do  it !     Everything  in  its  own  time.     Now, 

1  Sermons  of  P.  Claude  de  la  Colombiere,  third  edition,  1689.  This 
preface,  slightly  oratorical,  and  containing  few  precise  details,  is, 
however,  all  that  we  have  of  Father  de  la  Colombiere.  How  much  it 
is  to  be  regretted  that  nearly  two  hundred  years  have  rolled  around 
without  the  written  Life  0/  this  great  servant  of  God ! 


1 1 6  ,Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

My  love  wishes  to  amuse  itself  with  thee  as  it  pleases. 
But  thou  wilt  lose  nothing  by  it."  1 

On  another  occasion,  urged  by  Her  importunity,  He 
said  to  her  :  "  Have  a  little  patience  ;  later  I  shall  make 
thee  experience  what  thou  must  suffer  for  My  love."  2 

O  adorable  goodness  of  the  Lord  !  He  could  not 
resolve  to  begin  the  crucifixion  of  His  spouse.  One 
day  she  conjured  Him  never  to  make  anything  known 
about  her,  unless  to  humble  her  before  creatures  and 
destroy  their  esteem  for  her.  '  For  alas  !  my  God,"  she 
said,  "  I  feel  my  weakness,  and  I  fear  to  betray  Thee." 
"  Fear  nothing,"  was  the  reply.  "  I  shall  be  thy  Pro- 
tector." "  What !  Lord,  wilt  Thou,  then,  always  let  me 
live  without  suffering  ?"  she  cried.  Then  Jesus  showed 
her  a  cross  covered  with  flowers.  "  Behold  !"  He  said, 
"  the  bed  of  my  chaste  spouses  on  which  I  shall  make 
thee  consummate  the  delights  of  My  love.  One  by  one 
these  flowers  will  fade,  and  naught  will  remain  but  the 
thorns  they  now  hide  from  thy  weakness.  But  thou 
wilt  feel  their  points  so  keenly  that  all  the  strength  of 
My  love  will  be  needed  by  thee  to  enable  thee  to  ac- 
complish thy  martyrdom."  3 

One  involuntarily  pauses  before  this  vivid  and  start- 
ling picture  of  life.  A  bed  of  thorns  covered  for  a  few 
moments  with  flowers.  The  flowers  fade,  the  dream 
vanishes,  the  illusion  disappears,  and  nothing  remains 
but  points  so  sharp,  so  piercing,  so  penetrating,  that 
God  alone  can  nerve  to  the  endurance  of  their  pain. 
But  whilst  we  weep  and  groan,  Margaret  Mary  trem- 
bled with  joy.  Jesus'  words  rejoiced  her,  for  she  had 
feared  never  to  have  sufferings  enough  to  satisfy  the 
burning  thirst  for  them  that  gave  her  no  rest  by  night 
or  by  day.4 

The  Lord  generously  multiplied  His  promises,  and 
assured  her  that  the  hour  was  not  far  distant  in  which 

1  Contemp.,  p.  39.  2  lb.,  p.  44. 

3  Memoire,  p.  322.  4  Contemp.,  p.  45. 


Final  Exterior  Preparations.  117 

He  would  satiate  her  with  suffering  and  humiliation. 
Nothing  could  satisfy  the  desire  that  tormented  her. 
"  It  seemed  to  me,"  she  wrote,  "  that  I  should  never  be  at 
rest  until  I  found  myself  unknown  to  all,  and  abyssed 
in  humiliations  and  suffering  ;  until  I  should  be  lost 
in  eternal  oblivion,  in  which,  if  remembered  at  all,  it 
would  only  be  to  be  the  more  deeply  despised.  If,  in 
truth,  my  Sisters  knew  the  desire  I  have  of  being  hum- 
bled and  despised,  I  doubt  not  that  charity  would  in- 
duce them  to  gratify  me  on  this  point."  ' 

"  I  experience,"  she  again  said,  "  so  strong  a  desire  to 
suffer  that  I  cannot  find  any  sweeter  rest  than  to  feel 
myself  inundated  with  pain,  my  mind  the  prey  to  all 
kinds  of  dereliction,  and  my  whole  being  drowned  in 
humiliations,  contempt,  and  contradictions."  2  "  Suffer- 
ing alone  can  render  life  endurable  to  me,"  this  is  the 
cry  that  will  henceforth  be  heard  in  all  her  letters.  Its 
form  of  expression  may,  indeed,  vary  ;  but  in  substance 
it  will  ever  be  the  same. 

Her  actions  corresponded  to  her  words.  The  plainest 
and  coarsest  food  that  could  be  found  in  the  convent 
appeared  to  her  too  delicate  for  a  sinner  like  herself  ; 
so  she  seasoned  it  with  ashes  to  render  it  more  unpala- 
table. She  deprived  herself  of  every  kind  of  beverage  ; 
and  at  one  time  she  took  the  resolution  not  to  drink 
anything  from  Thursday  until  Saturday  of  every  week. 
Reproved  by  her  Superiors,  and  obliged  by  them  to 
slake  her  thirst,  she  resorted  to  a  thousand  inventions 
to  do  so  only  with  water  tepid  and  unpleasant  to  the 
taste.  At  night  she  put  planks  in  her  bed,  and  even 
strewed  it  with  fragments  of  broken  potsherds.  "  Had 
she  been  permitted,"  wrote  her  Superioress,  Mother  de 
Saumaise,  "  she  would  have  martyrized  her  body  with 
vigils,   disciplines,   and    other    mortifications,   although 

1  Languet,  Vie  de  la  Venerable  Soeur,  p.  115. 
8  Memoire,  p.  336. 


1 8  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

during  six  whole  years  I  saw  her  in  the  enjoyment  of 
health  for  only  five  months."  ' 

What  shall  we  add  ?  That  with  which  the  dainty  of 
the  century  have  reproached  the  illustrious  author  of 
the  "  Life  of  St.  Elizabeth,"  that  with  which  they  have 
reproached  us  in  the  "  History  of  St.  Chantal,"  it  must 
be  permitted  us  to  relate  here.  And  yet  we  warn 
fastidious  souls  that  we  have  suppressed  the  half.  Mar- 
garet Mary's  sole  happiness  was  to  kiss  the  wounds  of 
the  sick,  and  press  her  lips  to  the  most  disgusting 
ulcers.  Once,  in  particular,  when  nursing  a  Sister  dying 
witli  cancer  of  the  stomach,  and  who  could  not  retain 
anything  upon  it,  she  wished  to  clear  away  her  vomit. 
She  did  it  with  her  lips  and  tongue,  saying  to  Jesus 
Christ  :  u  If  I  had  a  thousand  bodies,  a  thousand  loves, 
and  a  thousand  lives,  I  should  wish  to  sacrifice  them  all, 
in  order  to  be  Thy  slave."  "  And,"  she  added,  "  I  found 
so  much  delight  in  this  action  that  I  longed  for  daily 
occasions  to  teach  me  to  overcome  myself  in  the  same 
manner,  and  to  have  God  alone  for  witness."2 

Every  da)'  exhibited  similar  scenes,  similar  desires 
after  humiliation  and  contempt,  a  thousand  little  strata- 
gems to  procure  herself  suffering,  and  extraordinary  as- 
pirations after  the  most  frightful  self-immolation.  There 
were,  according  to  her  own  expression,  three  tyrants 
inclosed  within  her  heart,  which  gave  her  neither  rest 
nor  truce,  which  were  never  satisfied,  and  which  inces- 
santly urged  her  on  to  fresh  exertions.  The  first  was 
love  of  contempt;  the  second,  love  of  suffering;  the 
third,  the  sweetest,  the  most  powerful,  the  most  insati- 
able, the  least  easily  satisfied,  was  the  love  of  Jesus 
Christ.  "  Jesus  Christ!  Jesus  Christ!"  she  cried  in 
tones  that  expressed  more  than  a  lengthy  sermon. 
"  The  longer  I  live,  the  more  clearly  I  see  that  a  life 
without  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  misery  of  mis- 

1  Languet,  Vie  de  la  Venerable  Soeur,  p.  10S. 
s  Memoire,  p.  337. 


Final  Exterior  Preparations.  119 

eries.  If  to  go  to  Jesus  Christ  I  had  to  walk  barefoot 
on  a  pathway  of  flames,  it  would  seem  to  me  nothing. 
After  having  received  Jesus  Christ,  I  remain  as  it  were 
annihilated,  but  filled  with  joy  so  entrancing  that  some- 
times for  seven  minutes  my  whole  interior  is  hushed  in 
profound  silence,  listening  to  the  voice  of  Him  whom  I 
love."  * 

"  I  know  not  whether  I  deceive  myself,"  she  again 
wrote,  "  for  one  grows  not  weary  of  hearing  the  accents 
of  this  Divine  Voice,  so  strong,  so  heroic,  so  elevated 
above  our  weakness  and  human  impotence.  It  seems 
to  me  that  my  pleasure  would  be  to  love  my  amiable 
Saviour  with  a  love  as  ardent  as  that  of  the  seraphim. 
But  I  should  not  be  grieved  even  were  it  in  hell  that  I 
loved  Him.  The  thought  that  there  could  be  a  place  in 
the  universe  in  which,  for  all  eternity,  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  souls,  redeemed  with  the  Precious  Blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,  would  never  love  this  amiable  Redeemer,  afflicts 
me  deeply.  I  would  wish,  my  Divine  Saviour,  if  it  were 
Thy  will,  to  suffer  all  the  torments  of  hell,  provided  I 
could  love  Thee  as  much  as  all  souls,  doomed  ever  to 
suffer  and  never  to  love,  would  have  been  able  to  love 
Thee  in  heaven."  2 

The  more  one  advances,  the  more  this  love  of  God 
consumes.  Margaret's  frail  and  delicate  constitution 
could  not  resist  such  emotions.  Thin  and  pale,  the 
glowing  ardor  of  her  mind  was  visible  through  her 
transparent  skin;  she  realized  more  perfectly  the  thren- 
ody of  her  novitiate: 

"A  chased  and  panting  fawn, 
I  seek  the  flowing  stream. 
The  hunter's  flying  dart 
Has  pierced  my  inmost  heart." 

Such  was   Margaret  Mary  in  her    twenty-fifth  year, 
and  such  are  all  the  saints.     For  us,  for  the  greater  part 

1  Contemp. ,  p.  46. 

*  Languet,  Vie  de  la  Venerable  Soeur,  p.  95. 


I20  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

of  men,  God  is  known  and  saluted  from  afar  and  but 
with  difficulty.  To  some  of  us  He  is  a  friend;  for 
very  few,  an  intimate  friend.  But  there  are  others  for 
whom  He  is  more  than  a  friend,  more  than  a  father, 
more  than  a  spouse.  Their  love  for  Him  amounts  to 
passion,  yea,  even  to  folly.  This  is  a  mystery  the  world 
does  not  understand;  it  laughs  and  scoffs  :  but  what 
matters  it  ? 

Astonishing  as  it  may  be  at  all  times  to  the  witnesses 
of  this  stupendous  life  to  see  that  ever-increasing  desire 
after  sufferings,  that  hungering  after  humiliations  and 
contempt,  that  thirsting  after  the  love  of  God, — there  is 
something  that  will  still  more  amaze  ;  namely,  that 
state  of  entire  absorption  in  God  to  which  we  have  al- 
ready alluded,  and  which  will  now  strike  the  beholder 
with  astonishment  and  admiration.  In  recreation,  in 
the  refectory,  in  the  choir,  Margaret's  companions 
were  constantly  obliged  to  rouse  her.  She  no  longer 
lived  on  earth.  Were  she  needed  for  anything,  they 
never  thought  of  seeking  her  in  her  cell.  They  ran  to 
the  chapel,  for  she  now  never  left  it.1  There  she  passed 
entire  hours,  kneeling  motionless,  her  hands  joined,  her 
eyes  closed.  She  saw  nothing,  heard  nothing  ;  she  did 
not  even  feel  the  Sisters  tapping  her  on  the  shoulder. 
But  at  the  sound  of  the  word  "obedience,"  she  arose 
quickly,  and  did  whatever  they  requested. 

Let  us  listen  to  the  witnesses  of  these  extraordinary 
scenes,  and  for  an  instant  gaze  upon  the  greatest  con- 
templative that  has  appeared  in  the  Church  since  St. 
Teresa: 

"  I  attest,"  said  Sister  Marguerite  d'Athose,  "  to  hav- 
ing seen  the  venerable  deceased  pass  almost  the  entire  day, 
particularly  Sundays  and  feasts,  before  the  Blessed 
Sacrament,  on  her  knees,  immovable,  in  recollection  so 
profound  that  the  whole  community  was  surprised  that 

1  Process  of  171 5,  Deposition  of  Sister  Rosselin. 


Final  Exterior  Preparations.  1 2 1 

she  could  remain  so  long  in  the  same  position,  though 
her  constitution  was  not  the  strongest."  1 

"  Having  lived  long  years  with  the  venerable  Sister, 
I  affirm,"  says  Sister  Claude-Rosalie  de  Farges,  "  that 
she  was  always  the  first  at  morning  prayer.  So  rapt 
was  her  attention  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament  that  on 
feasts  she  never  stirred  almost  the  whole  day,  but  re- 
mained before  it  in  an  attitude  of  respect  and  abase- 
ment that  inspired  the  beholder  with  devotion."  The 
deponent  affirmed,  also,  that  she  had  seen  her  from 
seven  o'clock,  Holy  Thursday  evening,  till  four  o'clock  the 
next  morning  on  her  knees,  immovable,  her  hands  joined 
on  her  breast;  and  that  the  Sisters  who  succeeded  her 
(the  deponent)  beheld  her  in  the  same  position  until 
the  Office.  This  gave  cause  to  the  deponent  to  say  to 
Margaret :  "  My  dear  Sister,  how  can  you  remain 
kneeling  so  long?"  To  which  Margaret  answered: 
"  At  such  times  I  do  not  even  know  that  I  have  a 
body."8 

Another  deposition  is  still  more  explicit  and  curious, 
that  of  Sister  Elizabeth  de  la  Garde,  Superioress  of  the 
convent  of  Paray.  She  entered  the  convent  almost  at 
the  same  time  as  the  venerable  Sister,  and  had  been  her 
companion  of  the  novitiate.  "  I  certify,"  she  said, 
"  that  the  venerable  Sister  was  always  most  faithful  to 
pass  all  her  free  time  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  her 
hands  joined  in  profound  adoration.  No  movement  on 
her  part  ever  betrayed  a  wandering  of  mind.  On  feast- 
days,  from  the  time  she  rose  until  dinner,  and  from  the  end 
of  the  recreation  till  Vespers^  there  she  was  in  prayer. 
But  on  Holy  Thursday,  for  several  consecutive  years, 
she  passed  from  seven  in  the  evening  until  the  next  morning 
kneeling  in  the  same  place,  neither  coughing  nor  mov- 
ing." This  led  the  deponent  to  notice  Margaret  Mary 
whilst  she  herself  was  in  the  choir,  and    commission 

1  Process  of  1715,  Deposition  of  Sister  Marguerite  d'Athose,  p.  67. 
8  Process  of  1715,  p.  69. 


122  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

others  to  do  the  same  when  she  went  to  rest,  that  she 
might  know  whether  Margaret  preserved  the  same  atti* 
tude.  The  Sisters  thus  commissioned  assured  Mother 
Elizabeth  that  Sister  Margaret  Mary  knelt  in  the  same 
posture  ail  night.1 

What  was  then  done  by  Mother  de  la  Garde's  orders 
was  ever  after  continued  during  Margaret  Mary's  life. 
"  One  Holy  Thursday  night,"  says  one  of  the  witnesses, 
u  we  went  from  time  to  time  to  look  at  Margaret  Mary 
through  a  half-open  door  of  the  choir.  There  she  was 
kneeling,  immovable,  her  hands  joined  on  her  breast, 
her  countenance  radiant.  This  lasted  twelve  hours  without 
the  slightest  motion  on  her  part."  a  "I  have  often  watched 
her,"  says  Sister  Marie  Rosalie  de  Lyonne,  "  and  I  once 
saw  her  myself  kneeling  from  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening 
till  midnight,  and  others  observed  the  same  from  midnight 
until  the  next  morning  at  seven  o'clock.  During  all  this 
time  Margaret  remained  immovable  on  her  knees,  her 
hands  joined."  "  Next  day,"  continues  the  deponent, 
"  having  asked  her  how  she  could  remain  so  long  in  the 
same  posture,  and  of  what  she  was  thinking  all  that 
time,  she  replied  :  '  I  am  then  so  occupied  with  the 
Lord's  Passion  that  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  a  body. 
I  feel  nothing.'  "  3 

It  was  not  only  the  Sisters  succeeding  one  another 
in  adoration  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament  who  watched 
her  through  the  half-open  choir  door,  but  the  little 
boarders  asked  leave  to  rise  during  the  night  that  they 
too  might  see  "  their  saintly  mistress  praying  to  God 
so  fervently."  4  The  Faithful,  also,  on  days  of  Exposi- 
tion flocked  to  peer  through  the  choir  grate  and  to  point 
her  out  with  the  finger,  saying:  "  See  the  saint!  "  But 
their  notice  had  not  the  power  to  distract  her.6 

The  Sisters  of  the  Community  carried  their  pious  cu- 

1  Process,  p.  72.  2  lb.,  p.  64. 

3  lb.,  p.  66.  *  lb.,  p.  81. 

*  lb.,  p.  102. 


Final  Exterior  Preparations,  123 

riosity  still  further.  They  approached  her,  they  spoke 
to  her,  they  tapped  her  on  the  shoulder,  but  without 
obtaining  a  word  of  reply.  "  I  attest,"  said  Sister 
Jeanne-Francoise  Chalon,  "that  I  several  times  saw  the 
servant  of  God  in  His  holy  presence  before  the  Most 
Blessed  Sacrament  of  the  Altar.  I  spoke  to  her  without 
being  able  to  draw  a  word  of  response  from  her.  She 
was  immovable  as  a  marble  statue,  she  was  wholly  rapt 
in  God."1  "  I  have  heard  my  brother,  the  chaplain  and 
confessor  of  the  convent,  say,"  deposed  M.  Claude 
Michou,  an  advocate  of  the  parliament,  "that  when 
on  her  knees  before  the  altar,  Saint  Margaret  Mary 
appeared  ecstatic."* 

This  word  ecstasy  will  perhaps  cause  some  to  smile. 
But  allow  me  to  ask:  Is  there  any  love  without  contem- 
plation, any  ardent  passion  without  ecstasy?  What  is 
the  life  of  a  mother  during  the  first  months  of  her 
child's  life?  Is  it  other  than  a  rapturous  transport  be- 
fore the  crib  ?  And  what  takes  place  around  a  death- 
bed on  which  still  rest  the  remains  of  a  cherished  being? 
The  living  regard  the  dead,  they  contemplate  the  re- 
mains, they  forget  themselves.  Are  they  seated  or  on 
their  knees  during  this  contemplation  ?  How  long  has 
it  lasted  ?  Who  can  say  ?  The  more  they  love,  the  less 
they  know. 

This  is  what  Saint  Margaret  Mary  did  during  those 
long  nights.  Twelve  consecutive  hours  on  her  knees, 
her  hands  joined  on  her  breast,  her  eyes  closed,  without 
coughing  or  moving,  like  a  marble  statue,  like  an  ecs- 
tatica!     She  loved,  and  in  loving  she  forgot  herself! 

Only  one  thing  could  recall  her  to  earth,  and  that 
was  the  word  obedience.  At  that  word  she  became 
conscious,  bowed  sweetly  to  the  altar,  and  rose  to 
go  whither  obedience  called.  "  I  affirm,"  says  Sister 
Francoise-Rosalie  Verchere,  "  that  I  have  seen  hei 
tor  entire  hours  in  prayer,  and  so  rapt  that  I  have 
1  Process  of  171 5,  p.  106.  '  lb.,  p.  87. 


124  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

approached  without  being  able  to  distract  her.  But  at 
the  least  sign  of  obedience  she  left  all  to  respond  to  it.' 
Said  witness  confessed  to  having  told  her  once  as  if 
coming  from  the  Superioress,  though  in  fact  it  was  of 
witness'  own  suggesting  and  merely  to  see  whether 
Margaret  Mary  would  leave  her  prayer  or  not,  to  go 
warm  herself.  On  the  instant  she  set  off  to  obey.1  "  I 
remember,"  says  Mother  Elizabeth  de  la  Garde,  "  that 
once,  wishing  to  make  a  trial  of  the  obedience  of  the 
servant  of  God,  I  sent  a  Sister  to  whisper  in  her  ear: 
'Sister,  Mother  says  go  and  warm  yourself.'  It  was 
Holy  Thursday  night,  and  very  cold,  and  she  had  asked 
permission  to  remain.  But.  immediately  Margaret  Mary 
made  her  genuflection,  withdrew,  and  went  to  the  fire 
for  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  On  coming  back,  she  resumed 
her  place  in  the  choir  till  Prime  of  the  next  day,  just 
seven  hours."3 

Extraordinary  as  was  Margaret  Mary's  immobility 
during  twelve  consecutive  hours  notwithstanding  the 
cold  of  the  night,  it  was  not  the  most  astonishing  fea- 
ture in  her  wonderful  life.  At  times,  whilst  thus  kneel- 
ing in  the  choir,  she  suddenly  fainted,  and  had  to  be 
borne  out  trembling  and  radiant,  her  countenance  on 
fire,  her  eyes  suffused  with  tears.  To  the  questions  put  to 
her  she  could  answer  nothing,  nor  was  she  able  to  sup- 
port herself.  Once  they  found  her  thus  extended  in  the 
choir,  torrents  of  tears  flowing  softly  and  uninterrupt- 
edly from  her  eyes.3  On  another  occasion  she  said: 
"I  neither  felt  nor  knew  where  I  was.  When  they  came 
to  take  me  away,  seeing  that  I  could  not  answer  nor 
support  myself  without  great  difficulty,  they  led  me 
to  our  Mother.  I  was  quite  out  of  myself;  I  trembled 
and  seemed  to  be  consumed  by  fever.  They  thought  I 
would  die."4 
It  was  repeated  scenes  like  this  that  astonished  and 

1  Process  of  171 5,  p.  52,  e  lb.,  p.  72. 

3  Memoire,  p.  327.  4  lb.,  o   328 


Final  Exterior  Preparations.  325 

alarmed  the  Sisters,  inspired  some  with  tender  pity 
and  respect,  others  with  admiration  and  enthusiasm, 
and  caused  all  to  say:  "What  can  it  be?  What  passes 
between  God  and  this  soul  during  those  long  hours  ? 
Is  it  an  illusion  ?  or  is  it  God  acting  in  her  ?  If  so,  for 
what  end  ?" 

We  now  know  the  answer  to  all  these  questions. 
Obedience  unsealed  the  lips  of  the  humble  virgin,  and 
the  Church  has  authenticated  her  words.  Guided  by 
this  authority,  let  us  penetrate  without  fear  of  decep- 
tion into  the  secret  of  her  raptures,  and  contemplate 
their  beauty. 

But  first  we  must  collect  them.  We  must  do  like  the 
pilgrim  on  approaching  Jerusalem.  He  hears  his  guide 
suddenly  cry  out:  "  El  Cods!  LaSainte!"  Deeply  moved, 
he  pauses,  kneels,  and  adores  before  presuming  to  rest 
his  eyes  on  that  city  in  which  appeared  the  Word  made 
flesh,  on  that  hill  upon  which  expired  Infinite  Love! 


26  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  AURORA  OF   THE   DEVOTION   TO   THE  SACRED 

HEART. 

"Quasi  aurora  consurgens." 
"  As  the  morning  rising." — Cant.  vi.  9. 
"  Omnia  in  mensura,  et  numero,  et  pondere  disposuisti." 
"  Lord,  Thou  hast  ordered  all  things  in  measure,  and  number,  and 
weight." — Wisdom  xi.  21. 

^  OD  had  taken  three-and-twenty  years  to  prepare 
the  heart  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  for  the  pro- 
digious marvel  whose  secret  He  was  about  to 
confide  to  her;  but  He  was  going  to  employ  still  more 
time  in  preparing  the  world  to  understand  that  wonder 
and  to  accept  it.  All  beautiful  things  here  below  have 
an  aurora  that  precedes  and  announces  them,  that  turns 
toward  them  all  eyes  and  hearts.  The  devotion  whose 
history  we  are  going  to  relate  had  its  rosy  dawn,  and 
the  time  has  come  to  portray  it. 

Can  we  imagine  the  Church  existing  seventeen  hun- 
dred years  without  a  thought  of  the  Adorable  Heart  of 
her  Divine  Spouse  ?  Can  we  fancy  her  innumerable 
virgins,  so  inflamed  with  love  for  Jesus,  never  craving 
the  happiness  of  St.  John,  the  happiness  of  reposing  on 
the  breast  of  the  Divine  Master  ?  Did  none  of  her  Doc- 
tors ever  contemplate  that  pierced  side  whence  flowed 
he  wonderful  mixture  of  blood  and  water  ?  If  it  be  true 
that  our  forefathers  believed  as  we  that  the  heart  is  the 
seat  of  love;  if  all  nations  have  guarded  with  respect 
and  carried  in  triumph  the  hearts  of  their  deceased 
heroes,  how  admit  that  those  far-off  Christian  ages,  so 


Aurora  of  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart.    127 

filled  with  enthusiasm  for  the  person  of  the  Saviour, 
cast  no  glance,  breathed  no  prayer  toward  His  Sacred 
Heart,  the  most  beautiful,  most  noble,  most  tender,  the 
purest  and  greatest  of  all  hearts  ? 

Far  up  through  past  centuries,  off  in  the  catacombs 
of  Rome  or  Lyons,  in  those  remote  ages  whose  writings 
are  rare,  whose  chiselled  marble  and  frescoed  walls 
form  the  annals  of  their  Christian  generations,  we  behold 
the  devout  gaze  fixed  upon  the  pierced  side  of  the  Sav- 
iour, on  the  stream  of  love  flowing  from  it,  and  the 
Heart  that  forms  its  source.  When,  at  Lyons,  the  young 
deacon  Sanctus  appeared  before  his  executioners  and 
astonished  them  by  the  firmness  of  his  heroic  courage, 
the  historian  of  his  martyrdom  asked  how  he  could 
endure  fire  and  sword  and  other  most  atrocious  tor- 
ments. Sanctus  had  but  one  answer:  "  It  was,"  said  he, 
"because  the  holy  deacon  was  sprinkled  and  strength- 
ened by  the  source  of  living  water  gushing  from  the 
Heart  of  Christ."1  There,  was  recently  discovered  in 
the  cemetery  of  the  Via  Strata,  at  Autun,  a  Greek  inscrip- 
tion placed  in  the  second  century  on  the  tomb  of  a 
Christian.  With  the  confession  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ, 
with  the  names  of  Saviour,  Jesus,  Redeemer,  we  find  in 
it  special  mention  of  the  Adorable  Heart,  toward  which, 
even  as  early  as  the  second  century,  souls  turned  for 
the  gifts  of  faith  and  hope  and  love.2  From  those  far- 
off  ages,  of  which  we  have  so  few  memorials,  we  pass  to 
those  of  the  Doctors,  the  brightening  aurora  of  the 
Church,  and  find  Tertullian  contemplating  the  pierced 
side  of  the  Saviour  and  reading  therein  the  title  of  our 
vocation  and  election  to  salvation.3  It  was  St.  Cyprian 
who  passed  before  the  singular  mixture  of   blood  and 

1  Eusebe,  Lettre  des  Martyrs  de  Lyon. 

8  Card.  Pitra,  Spicil.  Solesm.,  torn.  i.  p.  554. 

3Tertull.  De  Baptismo,  cap.  xvi.,  et  De  Anima,  c.  xliii.  '*  Somnus 
Adse  mors  erat  Christi  dormituri  in  mortem,  ut  de  Injuria  perinde  lateris 
ejus,  vera  mater  viventium  figuraretur  Ecclesia." 


128  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

water  flowing  from  the  wounded  breast  of  the  Christ, 
and  from  it  saw  the  Church  springing  forth  in  radiant 
beauty.1  It  was  St.  Ambrose  who  immortalized  this 
divine  wound  through  which  the  Saviour's  graces 
have  flowed  upon  and  embalmed  the  world,  like  those 
odoriferous  plants  that  emit  their  perfume  only  when 
wounded.2  It  was,  above  all,  St.  Augustine  who,  by  the 
tenderness  and  heavenly  elevation  of  his  soul,  was  so 
capable  of  understanding  the  mysteries  of  the  Heart  of 
Jesus.  "Oh!"  he  cried,  "of  what  a  perfect  word  the 
Evangelist  made  use  when  he  said:  ''One  of  the  soldiers 
opened  His  side  with  his  lance?  He  does  not  say,  'His 
side  was  struck  j  '  he  says,  '  His  side  was  opened  j '  that  is  to 
say,  the  door  of  life  was  opened  to  allow  the  sacraments 
and  all  other  graces  to  flow  upon  the  world."3  Under 
a  thousand  forms  the  saint  develops  the  sublime  doc- 
trine that  from  the  wounded  side  of  Jesus  Christ  the 
Church  was  born  and  the  sacraments  came  forth.  From 
it  beams  light  upon  souls,  and  from  it  issues  love.  The 
Heart  of  Jesus,  he  tells  us,  ought  to  be  the  special  asy- 
lum, the  refuge  of  all  in  need  of  consolation,  strength, 
or  pardon.  "  Consider,  O  man,"  he  says,  speaking  in 
the  person  of  the  Lord,  "how  much  I  have  suffered  for 
you.  My  head  was  crowned  with  thorns,  My  feet  and 
hands  pierced,  My  blood  shed.  I  have  opened  My  side 
to  you  and  given  you  to  drink  the  precious  blood  that 
flows  from  it!  What  more  can  you  desire  ?"  "  Approach, 
then,"  continues  the  holy  Doctor,  "  this  fountain  of  liv- 
ing water,  of  which  He  will  give  us  the  water  of  salva- 
tion without  money  and  without  price.  He  invites  us  to 
come  and  draw:  '  If  any  man  thirsts  let  him  come  to  Me.' 4 

1  Cyprian,  De  mont.  Sinae  et  Sion.  "  Percussus  de  lancea,  sanguis 
ex  aqua  mixtus  profluebat,  unde  sibi  Ecclesiam  sanctam  fabricavit  in 
qua  legem  passionis  suae  consecrabat,  dicente  ipso:  Qui  sitit,  veniat  et 
bib  at." 

8  Ambros.  Serm.  in.  in  Psalm  xxviii.  et  cxviii. 

3  Aug.  Tract,  cxx.  in  Joan. 

4  St.  John,  vii.  37. 


X 


Autographed    Record    of    St.    Margaret    Mary's    reception    of    habit. 

In  part  as  follows : 


I,  Margaret  Alacoque,  daughter  of  M.  Claude  Ala- 
coque  and  Mile.  Philiberte  Lamyn,  having  with  their 
consent  lived  for  two  months  at  this  Convent,  consid- 
ered its  rules  and  exercises  and  voluntarily  petitioned 
for  the  habit  of  a  choir  sister  of  this  Congregation, 
have,  by  the  grace  of  God,  obtained  same  together  with 
the  name  of  Margaret  Mary,  this  25th  day  of  August, 
1671. 

Sister  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


Aurora  of  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart.    129 

Behold  the  purest  of  fountains  gushing  up  in  the  midst 
of  paradise  and  watering  the  whole  earth."  '  In  these 
words  of  St.  Augustine,  we  hear  St.  John  Chrysostom, 
St.  Basil,  St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  St.  Ephrem,  St. 
Cyril,  and  other  Fathers  of  the  fourth  century.2 

Deeply  impressed  with  this  doctrine,  artists  of  the  first 
centuries  impressively  depicted  it  to  the  eye,  when  they 
represented  Jesus  on  the  cross.  His  side  presents  a 
gaping  wound,  from  which  gushes  an  impetuous  tor- 
rent of  blood  ;  and  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  stands  the 
Church  collecting  the  precious  blood  in  a  chalice.8 
Sometimes,  to  give  the  Blessed  Virgin  the  first  place 
near  the  dying  Saviour,  they  depict  the  Church  in  a 
kneeling  or  half-sitting  posture,  and  holding  the  chalice 
in  the  direction  of  the  open  side.  Most  frequently, 
however,  she  is  standing  nimbus-crowned,  her  standard 
in  her  hand.  Farther  back  in  the  picture  are  seen  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  John  standing  and  in  tears, 
though  the  Church  weeps  not.  In  her  eagerness  to 
catch  the  precious  stream,  whence  she  draws  her  exist- 
ence, she  holds  up  her  chalice  as  high  as  possible  so  as 
not  to  lose  one  drop.4  No  description  can  convey  to 
him  who  has  not  studied  these  old  paintings  the  enthu- 
siasm with  which  the  Church  contemplates  the  wound 
of  the  Heart  from  which  she  came  forth  as  Eve  from 
the  open  side  of  Adam.5    Thus  it  was  that  for  centuries 

1  Aug.  De  Symbolo  ad  catechum. ,  vi. ,  in  Psalm  1. 

2  If  some  scholar  well  versed  in  Greek  and  in  Latin  patristic  lore 
would  make  a  collection  from  age  to  age  of  all  that  the  Fathers  have 
said  upon  the  Sacred  Heart,  he  would  be  of  eminent  use  to  the  Church 
in  our  day. 

a  See,  in  particular  (Melanges  d'archeologie,  par  le  P.  Chas.  Cahier), 
an  ivory  crucifix  sculptured  after  the  model  belonging  to  M.  Carraud. 
The  blood  flows  in  a  stream  upon  a  large  cloth. 

4  See,  among  others,  the  crucifix  of  Cividale  del  Frinli  (Gori,  The- 
saur.  Diptych.,  torn.  iii.  p.  321. 

5  Crucifix  of  Bamberg  (Biblioth.  of  Munich).  It  belonged  to  the 
Emperor  St.  Henry.      Nothing  is  more  admirable  than  the  ardor  with 


13°  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

the  first  and  i'ondest  regards  of  all  Christians  were  fixed 
on  the  wounded  side  of  their  Saviour. 

But  let  us  leave  these  far-off  times  and  enter  the 
epoch  of  the  great  Doctors  of  the  Middle  Ages.  What 
progress  !  They  contemplate  not  only  the  pierced  side, 
for,  passing  through  it,  they  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  Heart 
of  burning  love,  and  to  it  offer  their  adoration.  "Thy 
Heart  has  been  wounded,"  exclaims  St.  Bernard,  "  that 
the  visible  wound  may  reveal  to  us  the  invisible  one  of 
love.  For  who  would  allow  his  heart  to  be  wounded  if 
love  had  not  already  attracted  it  ?  But  also  who  would 
not  seek,  who  would  not  love,  a  heart  thus  wounded  ?" ' 

Elsewhere  he  explains  this  text:  "  My  dove  in  the 
clefts  of  the  rock,  in  the  hollow  places  of  the  wall;"  and 
shows  that  the  clefts  of  the  rock  are  the  wounds  of  Jesus 
Christ,  above  all  that  of  the  side  through  which  may 
be  seen  His  Heart.  "  Oh  !"  he  cries  out,  "  how  good 
and  how  sweet  to  dwell  in  this  Heart  !  Precious  treas- 
ure, rare  pearl  that  Thy  Heart,  O  good  Jesus,  found  in 
ploughing  up  the  field  of  Thy  body  !  Who  could  reject 
this  pearl  beyond  price  ?  Ah,  I  should  rather  give  all 
to  purchase  it  !  And  there,  in  this  temple,  in  this 
Holy  of  holies,  in  that  sacred  ark,  I  shall  live,  I  shall 
praise,  I  shall  adore!  O  Jesus!  draw  me  into  Thy 
Sacred  Heart;  and  that  I  may  dwell  there,  wash  me 
from  my  iniquities,  purify  me  from  every  stain.  O 
nost  beautiful  of  the  children  of  men,  Thy  Sacred 
Heart  has  been  opened  only  that  we  may  be  able  to 
dwell  in  it  in  safety  and  in  peace."  2 

These  and  similar  words  constantly  escaped  the  lips 
of  St.  Bernard.  He  filled  the  solitude  of  Citeaux  and 
Clairvaux  with  them.  It  suffices  to  open  the  works  of 
St.  William,  of  St.  Guerric  and  his  principal  disciples,  to 

which  the  Church  rose  up  to  catch  the  divine  blood,  which  not  only 
flowed  but  poured  out  in  streams. 

1  St.  Bernard,  Tract,  de  Passione,  cap.  iiL 

Mb, 


Aurora  of  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart.    131 

be  convinced  of  this.  But  he  did  not  proclaim  it  in 
public.  Did  he  find  the  world  still  too  barbarous,  too 
gross,  to  grasp  this  doctrine  so  delicate,  so  high  ?  Or 
rather,  had  the  hour  not  yet  come  for  that  star  to  rise  on 
the  world  ?  This  is  more  probable.  The  period  of 
which  we  speak  was  but  the  dawn  of  devotion  to  the 
Sacred  Heart,  whose  sweet,  strong  light  was  to  pene- 
trate only  some  few  chosen  souls. 

We  must  not  omit  from  the  rank  of  those  chosen  ones 
a  man  whom  the  imagination  cannot  contemplate  with* 
out  being  inflamed  with  devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus. 
Look  at  that  pale,  emaciated,  ecstatic  figure  on  the  rocks 
of  Mt.  Alvernia.  On  his  forehead  we  read  meekness, 
humility,  tenderness,  and  peace.  In  his  eyes  burn  a 
pure  and  brilliant  flame  which  reveals  his  ardent  love 
of  God.  The  wounds  of  the  Saviour's  feet  and  hands 
are  reproduced  on  his  flesh,  and  he  bears  in  his  side  the 
impress  of  the  stroke  of  the  lance  that  opened  the  side 
of  Jesus  !  Oh,  who  can  depict  his  emotion  when,  on 
the  summit  of  Alvernia,  from  the  heart  of  the  serapu 
that  appeared  to  him  darted  those  rays  of  fire  and  love 
to  pierce  his  own  heart !  Francis  has  written  nothing. 
We  have  no  word  of  his  revealing  the  extent  of  his 
devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  But  all  around  him, 
among  his  most  cherished  disciples,  there  is  a  trace  of 
light  more  brilliant  than  that  which  surrounded  St. 
Bernard.  We  shall  quote  St.  Bonaventure.  What  light 
and  what  tenderness  !  "  Oh  !"  he  cries  out,  "  had  I 
been  the  lance  that  pierced  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  thinkest 
thou  that  once  having  entered  I  should  ever,  ever  have 
come  forth  ?  No  !  no  !  I  should  have  remained  therein. 
I  should  never  have  been  able,  I  should  never  have 
desired,  to  leave  that  abode.  I  should  have  said:  *  This 
is  my  rest  forever  and  ever.  Here  will  I  dwell,  for  I 
have  chosen  it.'" 

And,  again:  "O  my  soul!  thy  most  sweet  Saviour 
desires  to  take  thee  for  spouse,  to  tell  thee  the  secrets  of 


132  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

His  Heart;  and  delayest  thou  to  flee  to  Him  ?  In  the  ex- 
cess of  His  love  He  longed  for  the  lance  that  opened 
His  side,  that  He  might  prove  to  thee  that  He  had  given 
thee  His  Heart.  Oh,  didst  thou  know  how  sweet  this 
Heart  is  !  Enter  therein,  and  when  thou  shalt  be  in 
that  most  sweet  Heart  of  Jesus,  do  thou  close  after  thee 
the  doors  of  His  wounds,  so  that  it  may  be  impossible 
for  thee  ever  to  go  forth.  Thy  heart  will  then  be  so 
inflamed  with  love  that  it  will  seem  to  thee  that  thou 
wouldst  gladly  escape  from  thy  body  to  dwell  in  the 
wounds  of  Jesus  Christ."  "  O  most  holy,  most  amiable, 
most  sweet  wounds  of  Jesus  Christ  !  One  day  I  entered 
therein,  I  penetrated  even  to  the  most  secret  recesses  of 
love.  There  inclosed  on  all  sides,  I  knew  not  how  to 
retrace  my  steps.  Behold  why  I  remain  therein  and 
rest  forever.  There  I  am  all  ardor,  all  love.  There  I 
enjoy  without  stint  abundance  of  all  riches  !  O  man, 
take  my  word  !  If  thou  dost  try  to  enter  the  Heart  of 
the  most  sweet  Saviour  by  the  opening  of  His  wounds, 
not  only  thy  soul  but  thy  body  shall  taste  a  sweetness 
most  admirable."1  What  more  could  one  wish?  The 
seraphic  soul  of  Margaret  Mary  holds  for  us,  concerning 
the  honor  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  neither  accents  more 
tender  nor  teachings  more  explicit. 

With  whatever  discretion  these  holy  Doctors  environed 
themselves,  a'nd  although,  in  general,  they  confined 
their  teaching  to  the  cloister,  it  was  difficult  for  them 
to  prevent  some  sparks  from  bursting  forth.  We  begin, 
besides,  at  this  epoch  to  see  even  those  bound  to  the 
world  cultivating  the  habit  of  retiring  from  it  and  them- 
selves, and  making  their  dwelling  in  the  pierced  side  of 
their  Lord.  Blessed  Elzear,  Comte  d'Arian,  in  Prov- 
ence, having,  says  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  been  long  absent 
from  his  devout  and  chaste  Delphina,  she  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  him  to  inquire  expressly  for  his  health.  Be- 
hold the  reply  she  received:  "  I  am  very  well,  my  dear 
1  Bonav.  Stimulus  amoris,  pars  1.  cap.  i.  et  vii. 


Aurora  of  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart.    133 

wife;  but  if  you  wish  to  see  me,  seek  me  in  the  wound 
of  the  side  of  our  sweet  Jesus:  for  it  is  there  that  I 
dwell,  and  there  you  will  find  me.  Elsewhere  yon  will 
seek  me  in  vain."  This  was  a  Christian  chevalier  indeed.1 
Whilst  this  sweet  aurora  darted  its  beams  on  the  silent 
solitudes  of  Clairvaux  and  Citeaux,  on  the  fervent  mon- 
asteries of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  and  on  some  chosen  souls 
in  the  midst  of  the  world,  it  beamed  brightly,  also,  in  the 
erudite  schools  of  St.  Dominic.  Listen  to  St.  Thomas,  the 
Angel  of  the  Schools,  who,  seeking  for  marks  of  predes- 
tination, found  them  in  the  assiduous  contemplation  of 
the  pierced  Heart  of  Jesus.2  Hear  Blessed  Henry  Suso, 
called  the  Ecstatic  Doctor  on  account  of  the  sublimity  of 
his  contemplation:  "  O  Jesus!  remember  the  cruel  lance 
that  wounded  Thy  side  and  pierced  Thy  Heart!  That 
Heart,  wounded  and  opened  for  us,  is  become  to  us,  O 
Jesus,  a  fountain  of  living  water!"  3  Listen  to  John 
Tauler,  surnamed  the  Sublime  Theologian,  who,  medi- 
tating on  the  Passion  of  the  Saviour  and  contemplating 
the  wound  of  His  Heart,  exclaims:  "What  more  could 
He  do  ?  He  has  opened  His  own  Heart  for  us  to  enter. 
He  has  given  us  this  Sacred  Heart  cruelly  wounded  as 
our  dwelling-place,  so  that,  being  purified  therein  and 
having  acquired  perfect  conformity  with  it,  we  may  be 
worthy  of  being  received  with  Him  in  heaven."4  In 
fine,  all  the  theologians  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic, 
even  to  Blessed  Louis  of  Grenada,  "  the  Bossuet  of 
Spain,"  as  he  was  called,  who  opened  an  admirable 
chapter  of  his  Memorial  with  this  cry:  "  I  adore  Thee, 
O  most  sweet,  most  amiable,  most  merciful  Heart, 
wounded  for  love  of  me."6 

1  Introduction  to  the  Devout  Life,  part  u.  chap.  xii. 

2  S.  Thom.  in  cap.  xix.  Joan. 

5  Life  of  Blessed  Henry  Suso,  ch.  vii.     See  at  the  end  of  his  life  his 
"  Contemplations  on  the  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ." 

4  Tauler,  Exercises  on  the  Life  and  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ,  ch.  ix. 
Jesus  Pierced  with  a  Lance. 

6  Louis  of  Grenada,  Memorial,  ch.  y% 


134  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Thus  did  the  aurora  brighten  with  succeeding  cen- 
turies. It  was  not  only  the  pierced  side  that  was  con- 
templated, it  was  the  Heart,  and  in  the  Heart  was 
adored  the  immense  love  of  a  God  for  man;  neverthe- 
less, neither  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  nor  St.  Dominic,  nor 
St.  Bonaventure,  nor  Henry  Suso,  nor  Tauler  thought 
of  spreading  throughout  the  world  devotion  to  the 
Sacred  Heart.  They  delighted  their  own  soul  with  it, 
they  embalmed  their  cloisters  with  it;  and,  although 
millions  of  Christians  crowded  on  their  track  as  they 
traversed  the  country  preaching  peace,  reconciling  cities, 
appeasing  passions,  causing  faith,  humility,  and  the 
love  of  God  to  flourish  everywhere,  never  one  word 
from  their  lips  called  the  people  to  honor  that  adorable 
Heart,  the  Source  of  purity  and  devotedness,  of  love 
and  peace.  The  aurora,  undoubtedly,  increased;  but 
the  hour  destined  by  God  for  the  star  to  rise  was  not 
yet  come. 

This  progress  and,  at  the  same  time,  this  prudence 
are  read  in  the  beautiful  works  of  the  painters  and 
sculptors  of  that  epoch.  Contemporaries  of  St.  Bernard, 
St.  Dominic,  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  and  St.  Bonaventure, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  disciples  of  these  saints,  not 
one  of  them  ever  dreamed  of  representing  the  Heart  of 
Jesus  or  the  rays  proceeding  from  the  Saviour's  breast, 
though  some  significant  facts  made  known  the  new  direc 
tion  of  their  piety.  The  first  was  a  subject  treated  by 
them  with  singular  complacency;  namely,  the  ecstatic 
slumber  of  St.  John  on  the  Saviour's  breast.  They  re 
turned  to  it  constantly;  they  clothed  it  with  a  delicacy  of 
sentiment,  a  depth  of  expression,  a  sort  of  jealous  enthu- 
siasm which  is  really  a  revelation,  and  which  we  again 
find  in  the  magnificent  sequences  dedicated  at  this 
epoch  to   the  Beloved  Disciple.'     Moreover,  when  they 

1  See  in  particular  the  Four  Sequences  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor,  the 
greatest  lyric  poet  of  the  Middle  Ages,  if  St.  Thomas  had  lot  on  two 
or  three  occasions  shown  himself  as  capable  in  this  branch  as  in  ali 
others. 


Aurora  of  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart.    135 

represented  the  crucifix,  it  was  no  longer  in  the  gross 
manner  of  preceding  ages:  that  open  side,  that  torrent 
of  blood,  that  chalice  held  with  so  much  eagerness.  It 
was  something  more  intimate,  more  tender.  The 
wound,  which  had  hitherto  been  represented  on  the 
right  side  of  the  Saviour,  now  gradually  passed  to  the 
left;1  and  there  it  was  that  all  eyes  concentrated,  and 
all  lips  began  to  rest.  There  are  numbers  of  touching 
and  ingenuous  examples,  in  which  is  seen  the  contem- 
plative genius  of  the  Middle  Ages.  I  shall  only  cite 
that  of  the  descent,  or  rather  the  taking  down  from  the 
cross,  represented  on  the  shrine  of  the  great  relics  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle.  One  of  the  arms,  the  right  one,  is  de- 
tached, and  Mary  supports  it  weeping;  Nicodemus 
draws  the  nail  from  the  left  hand;  Joseph  of  Arimathea, 
supporting  the  sacred  body,  embraces  the  wound  of  the 
Heart.  Sometimes,  even,  but  rarely,  as  at  the  portal  of 
the  cathedral  of  Mayence,  artists  have  ventured  to  repre- 
sent Christ  sitting,  opening  His  tunic  and  showing  His 
Heart.  At  the  right  and  on  the  left  are  seen  a  man  and  a 
woman,  the  woman  at  the  side  of  the  Heart,  both  pros- 
trate, adoring  the  open  side,  upon  which  their  tender  gaze 
is  riveted.  Nowhere,  I  repeat,  is  the  Heart  itself  repre- 
sented, nowhere  are  seen  rays.'2  It  is  always  shown  to  us 
like  the  first  gleam  of  dawn,  heralding  the  advent  of  the 
sun. 

But  to  behold  the  sweet  aurora  developing  in  brill- 
iancy we  must  cast  our  gaze  on  the  virgins  whom  the 
sacred  solitudes  of  the  Middle  Ages  hid  from  all  eyes. 
Who  but  a  woman  can  comprehend  the  mysteries  of 
the  heart  ?     Who  will   rise  so  far  as  to  have  a  presenti- 

1  See  in  the  museum  of  Cluny  a  Christ  of  the  twelfth  century;  the 
hands  extended,  and  a  large  wound  in  the  left  side.  See  also  an  in- 
crusted  enamel  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  chalice  on  the  left  side. 

2  I  have,  however,  seen  at  Cologne  a  pall  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
upon  which  is  embroidered  in  red  silk  a  heart  pierced  with  a  lance. 
But  this  is  the  only  example  of  the  kind  of  which  I  know;  and  I  air 
not  sufficiently  assured  of  its  authenticity  to  adduce  it  as  a  proof. 


136  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

merit  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  if  it  be  not 
a  virgin?  The  lights,  the  Fathers  of  the  early  ages,  the 
Doctors  of  the  Middle  Ages,  pale  before  the  intuition 
of  virgins  hidden  in  the  silence  of  cloisters.  It  is  in 
them  not  only  a  light,  an  adoration,  a  devotion,  it  is 
more  still.  In  these  tender  intimacies  of  Jesus  with  His 
spouses,  the  heart  is  all.  They  forget,  I  do  not  say,  only 
His  grandeur,  His  majesty,  but  even  the  wounds  of  His 
feet  and  hands;  they  see  only  His  Heart.  And  when 
Jesus  appeared  to  them,  He  also  showed  them  only  His 
Heart.  One  day,  for  example,  when  St.  Gertrude  saicl, 
"  My  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  supplicate  Thee,  by  Thy 
Heart  transpierced  by  a  lance,  to  pierce  the  heart  oi 
Gertrude  with  darts  of  Thy  love,"  the  Lord  appeared, 
and  showing  her  His  open  side,  said,  "  Look  at  my 
Heart.  I  wish  it  to  be  thy  temple."  At  these  words 
Gertrude  felt  herself  drawn  in  a  marvellous  manner 
into  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  where  "  to  say  what  she  tasted, 
what  she  saw,  what  she  heard,  belongs  not,  as  she  tells 
us,  to  any  tongue  neither  human  nor  angelic."1  On 
another  occasion,  though  making  efforts  to  pray  with 
attention,  she  was  besieged  by  those  distractions  which 
the  saints  knew  as  well  as  we,  but  which  they  bewailed 
more  than  we.  The  Lord,  to  console  her,  presented  her 
His  Heart,  saying:  "  Behold  my  Heart,  the  delight  of 
the  Holy  Trinity!  I  give  it  to  Thee  that  it  may  supply 
for  what  is  wanting  to  Thee."  From  that  moment  Ger- 
trude prayed  only  through  that  Divine  Heart.  By  it 
she  offered  to  God  her  adoration  and  thanksgiving,  the 
insufficiency  of  which  she  now  no  longer  felt.  In  it  she 
rested,  and  her  whole  life  was  only  one  long  and  sweet 
sigh  of  love  toward  that  Heart  wounded  by  love  still 
more  than  by  the  lance  that  had  entered  it.  From  that 
abode  she  wished  never  to  come  forth. 2 

St.  Mechtilde,  who  astonished  the  thirteenth  century 

1  Revelations  of  St.  Gertrude,  bk.  in.  ch.  xvi. 
3  lb.  ch.  xv. 


Aurora  of  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart.    1 37 

by  the  splendor  of  her  illuminations,  was  honored  by  no 
less  favors.  One  night  when  she  could  not  sleep  on 
account  of  a  violent  pain  in  her  head,  Jesus  Christ  let 
her  see  the  wound  of  His  Heart,  and  invited  her  to  enter 
and  repose  in  it.  From  that  day  she  felt  touched  by  so 
lively  devotion  toward  the  Divine  Heart  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  received  from  it  such  graces,  that  she  was  accus- 
tomed to  say:  "  If  I  should  write  all  the  favors  that  I 
have  received  from  the  most  amiable  Heart  of  Jesus,  it 
would  make  a  larger  book  than  my  breviary."1 

St.  Lutgard  received  still  more  tender  favors,  per- 
haps. One  day,  whilst  yet  a  young  girl,  she  was  enter- 
taining a  suitor,  when  suddenly  Jesus  Christ  appeared 
to  her,  opened  His  sacred  breast,  and  showed  her  His 
Heart.  "  Look,"  said  He  to  her,  "  this  is  what  thou 
oughtest  to  love.  Forsake  the  attractions  of  human 
love,  and  thou  shalt  find  in  my  Heart  ineffable  delights." 
Some  time  after,  in  recompense  for  her  immediate  re- 
nunciation of  human  happiness,  the  Lord  again  appeared 
to  her,  fastened  to  the  cross  and  radiant  with  love.  As 
she  was  contemplating  Him  in  ravished  delight,  He  de- 
tached one  of  His  arms  and  drew  her  to  His  adorable 
breast.  There  He  made  her,  swooning  with  rapture 
celestial,  press  her  lips  to  the  wound  of  His  Heart.2 

To  these  illustrious  virgins  of  the  thirteenth  century 
must  be  added  another  saint.  She  is  still  more  cele- 
brated, for  she  bore  on  her  flesh  the  secret  impress  of 
the  Saviour's  wounds;  and  less  hidden,  since  she  was 
invested  with  the  mission  to  lead  the  Pope  from  Avignon 
to  Rome,  and  thus  become  the  Joan  d'Arc  to  the  Papacy. 
She  it  was  that  excited  in  the  Middle  Ages  deep  and 
universal  enthusiasm.  This  was  St.  Catharine  of 
Siena.  One  day  when  meditating  on  this  verse, 
"  Create  in  me  a  new  heart,"  she  beheld  her  Divine 
Spouse  approach  and  touch  her  left  side  with  His  hand. 

1  Vie  de  Sainte  Mechtilde,  liv.  n.  ch.  xxii. 

2  Boll.  Act.  SS.  Junii,  torn.  iii.  p.  239. 


138  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

She  immediately  experienced  such  a  shock  of  pain  and 
love  in  it  as  to  cause  her  to  swoon  with  happiness. 
Amazed  and  dumfounded,  for  it  seemed  to  her  that 
her  Spouse  had  taken  her  heart  from  her  breast,  she 
saw  Him  reappear  with  a  luminous  heart  in  His  hand. 
At  this  sight,  the  virgin  sank  trembling  and  fainting. 
The  Divine  Spouse  approaching,  these  tender  words 
reached  her  ear:  "  My  daughter,  I  have  thy  heart  and  I 
give  thee  Mine,  that  thou  mayest  forever  live  in  Me." 
From  that  day  Catharine  had  not  only  a  wound  in  her 
left  side,  which  crowds  came  to  contemplate  respect- 
fully after  her  death,  but  in  he.-  heart  so  active  a  fire 
that,  in  comparison  with  it,  all  material  fire  seemed 
cold.  Along  with  that  fire,  she  felt  an  elevation  of  soul, 
a  purity,  a  generosity,  and  such  transports  of  love 
as  commanded  the  admiration  of  the  fourteenth 
century. 

After  such  a  favor  it  might  seem  that,  if  any  one 
ought  to  propagate  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart,  it 
should  have  been  St.  Catharine.  One  day  the  Lord 
even  spoke  to  iier  in  terms  as  precise  as  those  He  used 
in  speaking  to  Margaret  Mary;  for  when  Catharine 
asked  Him  why  His  side  had  been  pierced,  He  an- 
swered: "It  was  to  reveal  to  men  the  secret  of  My 
Heart,  and  make  them  understand  that  My  love  is  far 
greater  than  the  exterior  manifestations  I  have  given  ot 
it.  My  sufferings  have  had  an  end,  but  My  love  has 
none."  But  neither  the  light  of  such  a  revelation,  nor 
the  favor  with  which  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  surrounded 
her,  nor  the  popular  enthusiasm  with  which  her  slight- 
est words  were  received,  could  transform  Catharine 
into  an  apostle  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  Sh ;  did  not  even 
dream  of  such  a  mission. 

Similar  things  must  be  said  of  St.  Magdalene  di 
Pazzi.  The  Lord  one  day  appeared  to  her  and  showed 
her  His  Heart,  from  which  moment  she  was  so  filled 
with   divine  love  that,  to  moderate  the  fire  which  con- 


Atirora  of  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heai't.    1 39 

sumed  her,  she  was  obliged  to  open  her  habit,  or  to 
pour  forth  burning  words  in  strains  of  highest  praise 
and  joy.1  St.  Catherine  of  Genoa,  also,  being  in 
prayer,  suddenly  received  so  violent  a  wound  that  the 
fire  enkindled  in  her  heart  rapt  her  into  ecstasy.  She 
appeared  like  one  demented,  as  she  sought  relief  from 
the  fire  of  her  wound.  One  day,  astonished  and 
frightened  at  this  phenomenon,  and  feeling  she  would 
certainly  die,  she  asked  the  Lord  the  cause  of  the  wound 
that  was  consuming  her  heart.  Then  she  saw  herself 
tenderly  drawn  to  the  breast  of  Jesus  Christ  crucified; 
His  Sacred  Heart  all  inflamed  with  love  was  shown  her; 
and  she  learned  that  from  that  source  came  the  flames 
that  devoured  her.2 

In  this  history  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus  we  must  not 
forget  St.  Margaret  of  Cortona,  who,  seeing  once,  the 
pierced  side  of  Jesus  Christ  open  like  a  cavern  of  love, 
hastily  laid  her  hand  on  her  own  heart,  to  prevent  its 
leaping  out  of  her  breast.3 

Nor  must  we  pass  you  over,  sweet  St.  Rose  of  Lima, 
little  flower  of  the  Indies,  who  constantly  saw  the  Heart 
of  Jesus  burning  like  a  fiery  sun  over  your  head;  and 
who  one  day,  when  one  of  its  rays  fell  on  your  heart, 
felt  the  sweet  languor  of  happiness  and  love.4  Nor  you, 
Blessed  Angela  of  Foligno,  Clare  of  Montefalco,  Mar- 
garet of  Hungary,  Beatrix  of  Citeaux,  Hosanna  of 
Manteau,  Frances  of  Rome,  Jane  of  Valois,  rivals  of  St 
Catharine  of  Siena  and  of  St.  Gertrude,  who  having 
once  seen  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  no  longer  knew  how  to 
languish  on  earth.  At  this  we  are  no  more  astonished 
than  at  perceiving  in  all  of  you  the  same  phenomenon, 
namely,  the  Heart  of  Jesus  inflaming  yours.  Of  infinite 
love  must  be  said  what  is  often  remarked   of  human 

1  Boll.  Act.  SS.  Maii,  torn.  vi.  p.  232. 

2  Vie  de  Sainte  Catherine  de  Genes,  ch.  ii.,  viL 

3  Boll.  Act.  SS.  Februar.,  torn.  v.  p.  330. 

4  Boll.  Act.  SS.  August.,  torn.  v.    927. 


140  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

love:  "Love  has  but  one  word;  and  though  constantly 
uttering  it,  it  never  repeats  itself."  l  But  what  does 
astonish  me,  O  holy  lovers  of  Jesus,  is  your  silence. 
Why,  though  so  inflamed  with  love  for  this  Sacred 
Heart,  have  you  revealed  its  beauty  to  none?  We  seek 
among  you  apostles  and  evangelists  of  the  Heart  of 
Jesus,  but  we  find  only  contemplatives,  on  fire,  'tis  true, 
but  silent.  Your  silence  we  should  be  unable  to  ex. 
plain;  for  from  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
speaks,  had  not  one  of  you  taught  us  the  mysterious 
reason. 

Once  St.  Gertrude  asked  the  beloved  disciple  St. 
John  why  he,  who  first  had  the  happiness  of  reposing 
on  the  Saviour's  breast,  had  taught  us  none  of  the 
secrets  of  the  Adorable  Heart.  St.  John  answered  that 
God  had  reserved  to  Himself  to  make  them  known  in  a 
time  of  great  coldness,  and  that  He  held  back  these 
wonders  to  rekindle  the  flames  of  charity  at  a  time 
in  which  it  would  have  grown  cold  and  almost 
extinct.2 

This  is  the  explanation  of  that  aurora,  at  once  so 
luminous  and  so  secret.  The  Heart  of  Jesus  has  never 
ceased  to  be  contemplated,  adored,  loved;  never  was  it 
not  preached.  Its  devotion  is  transmitted  from  soul  to 
soul,  from  solitude  to  solitude.  The  more  sensitive  the 
souls  and  the  more  lonely  the  retreat,  the  more  inti- 
mate and  ardent,  the  sweeter  is  the  devotion.  But  to 
illustrate  with  souls  even  the  most  devoted  to  the  Heart 
of  Jesus  throws  on  it  no  ray  of  light.  It  comes  not 
forth  from  shadow.  Several  times  the  devotion  seemed 
on  the  point  of  bursting  forth.  But  it  did  not,  though 
tUe.  dawn  went  on  increasing;  the  light  became  more 
artstinct,   the   devotion   more  tender.     The  seventeenth 

1  Lacordaire,  Vie  de  Saint  Dominique,  ch.  vi. :  Institution  du  saint 
Rosaire. 
9  Revelations  of  Saint  Gertrude,  bk.  III.  ch.  xvii. 


Aurora  of  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart.   141 

century  found  all  ready  to  hail  it;  but  a  single  voice 
was  needed  to  call  it  forth. 

Almighty  God,  indeed,  would  be  able  to  satisfy 
Himself  with  a  single  voice.  But  as  the  devotion 
preceded  by  so  long  preparation  was  to  spread  through- 
out the  Church  and  preside  for  ages  over  the  renewal 
of  fervor  and  piety,  He  resolved  to  confide  this  holy 
deposit  to  a  religious  Order,  a  band  of  virgins  scattered 
over  the  face  of  the  earth,  who,  inflamed  by  that  burn- 
ing Heart,  would  radiate  its  beams  beyond  the  grates 
of  their  cloistered  homes. 

As  yet,  as  far  as  we  know,  no  one  has  studied  the 
history  of  the  Visitation  from  this  point  of  view.  No 
one  has  shown  that  it  was  established  for  the  Sacred 
Heart;  and  we  ourselves  who  have  written  its  origin, 
why  may  we  not  now  confess  that  we  did  not  then 
know  to  what  a  degree  the  broad  lines  and  least  details 
of  that  Institute  relate  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus?  We  shall 
now  fill  up  this  void.  After  having  seen  devotion  to 
the  Sacred  Heart  arise  and  spread  throughout  the 
whole  Church,  we  shall  go  back  to  gaze  upon  it  as  it 
increases  in  beauty  and  brilliancy  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Visitation. 


I42  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  ACacoque. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE  VISITATION    ESTABLISHED   TO   BE  THE  SANC- 
TUARY  OF   THE  SACRED    HEART. 

"  Inspice,  et  fac  secundum  exemplar  quod  tibi  monstratum  est." 

"  Look  and  make  it  according  to  the  pattern  that  was  shown  thee." — 
Exodus  xxv. 

"  Arcam  de  lignis  setirn  compingue,  et  deaurabis  earn  auro  mundis- 
simo  intus  et  foris;  faciesque  propitiatorium  de  auro  mundissimo; 
duosque  cherubim  expandentes  alas,  versis  vultibus  in  propitiatorium." 

"  Thou  shalt  construct  an  ark  of  setim  wood,  covered  with  the  purest 
gold  within  and  without;  the  propitiatory  make  also  of  the  purest  gold; 
and  there  shall  be  two  cherubim,  spreading  their  wings,  and  their  eyes 
fixed  on  the  propitiatory." — Ibid. 

<^- 

fDO  not  know,"  said  St.  Francis  de  Sales  in  his  own 
gracious  style,  "  why  they  call  me  the  founder, 
for  I  have  not  done  what  I  wished;  in  fact,  I  have 
done  iust  what  I  did  not  wish."  ' 

The  Visitation,  such  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  St. 
Francis  de  Sales  in  1615,  is  indeed  something  very  differ- 
ent from  what  he  had  at  first  projected.  Every  step  in 
the  organization  of  his  work  was  marked  by  some  ob- 
stacle invincible  and  unforeseen,  which  forced  him  to 
modify  his  plans,  and  sweetly  impelled  him  to  form  his 
religious  in  a  mould  quite  contrary  to  his  original 
design. 

He  desired  to  make  of  them  Marthas,  and  he  made 
Maries.  He  wished  to  throw  them  out  into  the  active 
life,  and  he  led  them  into  the  contemplative.  He 
wished  to  send  them  into  cities  and  villages,  to  seek 
out  the  suffering — and  behold,  he  hid  them  from  all 
eyes  behind  impenetrable  bars!     This  Visitation,  which 

1  Esprit  de  Saint  Frangois  de  Sales,  Migne,  torn.  ii.  p.  78. 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       143 

was  to  resemble  a  hive  whose  bees  were  to  carry  the 
honey  of  charity  to  all  wounds  of  soul  and  body,  was 
suddenly  closed.  It  enveloped  itself  in  silence.  No 
longer  an  active  hive,  it  became  a  sweet,  recollected 
sanctuary,  altogether  interior;  something  like  that 
which  God  demanded  of  Moses  when  He  said  to  him: 
"  Thou  shalt  construct,  according  to  the  model  that  I 
shall  show  thee,  an  ark  of  setim  wood,  covered  with  the 
purest  gold  within  and  without  ;  with  cherubim,  their 
wings  spread  and  their  eyes  fixed  on  the  propitiatory." 
This  is  what  St.  Francis  de  Sales  hardly  thought  to  do, 
and  this  is  what  the  Visitation  became — a  silent  arlf 
lined  with  gold,  the  abode  of  prayerful  cherubim. 

But  dare  we  say  that  in  erecting  the  Visitation  St. 
Francis  de  Sales  did  not  suspect  what  it  was  one  day  to 
become?  Is  it  certain  that  from  this  period  he  did  not 
organize  it  with  the  idea  of  the  Sacred  Heart  in  view, 
and  according  to  ^he  model  that  had  been  mysteriously 
shown  him  ? 

On  June  10,  161 1,  he  wrote  to  his  holy  co-operatrix: 
"Good-morning,  my  dear  Mother  !  God  gave  me  last 
night  the  thought  that  our  house  of  the  Visitation  is  by 
His  grace  noble  and  important  enough  to  possess  its  coat- 
of-arms,  its  escutcheon,  its  motto,  and  its  legend.  I  think, 
then,  dear  Mother,  if  you  agree,  that  we  shall  take  for  our 
coat-of-arms  a  heart  pierced  with  two  arrows,  encircled 
by  a  crown  of  thorns,  and  surmounted  by  a  cross  graven 
with  the  sacred  names  of  Jesus  and  Mary.  My  daugh- 
ter, when  next  we  meet  I  shall  tell  you  a  thousand  little 
thoughts  that  have  occurred  to  me  on  this  matter;  for,  in 
truth,  our  little  congregation  is  the  work  of  Jesus  and 
Mary.  The  Saviour  when  dying  generated  us  by  the 
opening  of  His  Sacred  Heart." 

Thus  wrote  St.  Francis  on  June  10,  161 1.  Now,  do 
we  know  what  this  10th  of  June  was  ?  It  was  this  year, 
161 1,  the  first  Friday  after  the  octave  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  ;  that  is,  the  very  day  chosen  from  all  eter- 


144  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

nity  to  be  consecrated  to  the  Sacred  Heart  ;  the  day  of 
which  the  Lord  said  sixty  years  after  to  Margaret 
Mary  :  •'  I  desire  that  the  Friday  after  the  octave  of  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  shall  be  a  solemn  feast  throughout 
the  Church  in  honor  of  My  Divine  Heart."  It  was  on 
this  selfsame  day  that  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  ravished  in 
ecstasy,  gave  to  his  rising  Institute  for  device  and  stand- 
ard a  heart  crowned  with  thorns  ! 

This  certainly  affords  matter  for  reflection. 

But  what  were  these  "thousand  little  thoughts"  that 
St.  Francis  had  had  on  that  ecstatic  night,  and  that  made 
him  wish  so  eagerly  for  morning,  that  he  might  com- 
municate them  to  his  holy  co-operatrix  ?  In  writing  the 
history  of  St.  Chantal  I  asked  myself  this  question.  I 
was  then  ignorant ;  but  now  I  know.  A  closer  study  of 
the  manuscripts  of  the  Order  has  given  me  a  deeper  in- 
sight into  the  most  secret  thoughts  of  the  holy  bishop 
at  the  moment  in  which,  his  eye  resting  on  the  model, 
he  designed  the  plan  of  the  Visitation.  "  This  is  the 
model,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  the  Heart  of  Jesus  !"  And 
when,  his  work  finished,  he  lay  in  the  silence  of  death, 
St.  Chantal,  fearing  that  he  had  not  been  understood, 
collected  a  thousand  little  secret,  confidential  papers, 
received  from  him,  and  completed  the  revelation. 

Let  us  dive  into  these  details  so  marvellous  and  yet 
so  little  known. 

A  century  before  opening  his  adorable  breast  and  de- 
claring to  Margaret  Mary  that  He  wished  to  make  the 
daughters  of  the  Visitation  the  depositaries  of  His 
Heart,  the  Lord  cast  a  look  of  love  on  him  who  was  to 
be  the  founder  of  the  Institute,  formed  his  heart  on  the 
model  of  His  own,  and  rendered  it  the  meekest  and 
humblest  of  all  hearts.  "  I  do  not  know,"  says  a  certain 
author,  "  whether  there  has  ever  been  a  saint  that  prac- 
tised more  excellently  the  lesson  of  the  Saviour  :  '  Learn 
of  Me  that  I  am  meek  and  humble  of  heart  V  "  l 

1  See  the  "  Heart  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales:"  One-and  rhirtv  Consid* 
erations,  published  by  the  Visitation  of  Annecy,  p.  35. 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       145 

Some  years  after,  God  also  prepared  for  foundress 
the  saint  who,  formed  by  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  became, 
as  she  was  pleased  to  call  herself,  "  the  child  of  the 
Heart  of  Jesus,"  1  and  who  was  to  practise  in  a  high 
degree,  in  the  natural  and  supernatural  greatness  of  her 
strength,  the  virtues  of  meekness  and  humility.  "It 
was  revealed  to  a  soul  eminently  favored  by  God,"  re- 
lates Mother  de  Chaugy,  "  that,  when  Jesus  pronounced 
this  high  lesson  :  '  Learn  of  Me  that  I  am  meek  and 
humble  of  heart,' '  He  cast  a  look  of  love  and  predilection 
on  our  holy  Mother  de  Chantal."  a 

But  it  is  especially  during  the  years  that  the  two 
saints  worked  together  to  form  the  Visitation,  that  it  is 
sweet  to  study  by  what  mysterious  ways  they  were  led  to 
dispose  all  things  in  order  that  this  Institute,  "  founded 
on  the  golden  basis  of  meekness  and  humility,"3  might 
become  the  sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 

At  the  moment  of  Mme.  de  Chantal's  departure  for 
Annecy  to  begin  the  foundation  of  the  Institute,  St. 
Francis  de  Sales  wrote  her  a  line  to  animate  her  cour- 
age :  "  My  advice,  my  daughter,  is,  that  henceforth  we 
live  no  more  in  ourselves,  but  that  in  heart,  intention, 
and  confidence  we  lodge  forever  in  the  pierced  side  of  the 
Saviour" 

Again,  on  the  eve  of  her  entrance  :  "  My  daughter,  I 
must  tell  you  that  I  have  never  seen  so  clearly  how  mucr 
you  are  my  daughter  as  now.  But  I  say  it  as  I  see  it 
in  the  Heart  of  our  Saviour.4  O  my  daughter,  how  I 
desire  that  your  life  be  hidden  with  Jesus  Christ  in  God  ! 

1,1  God,  who  has  taken  her,  and  made  her  the  child  of  His  Heart, 
will  have  care  of  her."  (Letter  of  Mother  de  Br6chard,  Migne,  p. 
1007.) 

2  See  the  "  Heart  of  St.  Jane  de  Chantal:"  One-and-thirty  Consid 
erations,  published  by  the  Visitation  of  Annecy,  p.  67. 

3  Esprit  de  Saint  Francois  de  Sales,  Migne,  torn.  ii.  p.  399. 
4Lettre,  April  24,  1610. 


146  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  A  lac  o  que. 

I  am  going  to  make  a  little  prayer  for  this,  in  which  I 
shall  implore  the  royal  heart  of  the  Saviour  for  ours."  ' 
And  to  his  daughters  gathered  around  him  in  those 
first  sweet  moments  of  the  little  "  Gallery  House"  he 
says  :  "  The  other  day,  considering  in  prayer  the  open 
side  of  our  Saviour,  and  gazing  upon  His  Heart,  I  seemed 
to  see  all  our  hearts  around  His,  doing  Him  homage  as 
the  Sovereign  King  of  hearts." 

Thus,  in  the  far-off  time,  we  behold  the  image  under 
which  St.  Francis  loved  to  represent  to  himself  his  little 
congregation,  his  daughters  lodged  in  the  Heart  of  Jesus, 
or  their  hearts  surrounding  and  rendering  homage  to 
the  Heart  of  Jesus.  Some  days  later,  when  their  first 
home  was  disputed  with  the  Sisters,  St.  Chantal  and 
her  daughters  remembered  the  true  dwelling  assigned 
to  them  by  their  holy  founder.  "Who  could  have  told 
you,"  wrote  the  holy  bishop,  "  that  our  good  Sisters  of 
the  Visitation  have  met  with  opposition  to  their  locating 
and  building  ?  O  my  dear  father,  the  Lord  is  the  refuge 
of  their  souls;  so  are  they  not  too  happy?  And  as  our 
good  Mother  (Mother  de  Chantal),  although  languish- 
ing, yet  vigorous,  said  to  me  yesterday  :  'If  the  Sisters 
of  the  Visitation  are  very  humble  and  faithful  to  God, 
they  shall  have  the  Heart  of  Jesus  for  a  dwelling  and 
sojourn  in  this  world.'  "  a 

But  let  us  continue.  This  little  incident,  though  very 
insignificant,  becomes  more  definite  and  strikingly  clear. 
As  the  Heart  of  Jesus  was  to  be  the  abode  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  the  Visitation,  St.  Francis  de  Sales  exhausted  all 
his  eloquence,  all  his  piety,  in  showing  them  its  beauty. 
"O  my  daughter."  he  wrote  to  one  of  them,  "if  you 
look  at  this  Heart,  so  meek,  so  sweet,  so  condescending, 
so  loving  toward  miserable  creatures,  provided  only 
they  recognize  their  misery  ;  so  gracious  toward  the 
unfortunate,   so   good   to   penitents  !     Ah  !   who   would 

1  Lettre,  June  5,  1610. 

2  Lettre  a  un  eccl6siastique,  September,  161 7. 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       147 

not  love  this  royal  Heart  so  paternally  maternal  toward 
us  ?"  1  To  another  religious  he  wrote:  "  O  my  daughter, 
put  it — your  dear  heart — in  the  pierced  side  of  the  Saviour, 
and  unite  it  to  the  King  of  hearts,  who  is  as  on  His  royal 
throne  to  receive  the  homage  and  obedience  of  all  hearts, 
and  who  holds  the  door  open  that  all  may  approach  for 
an  audience."  2  And  to  the  venerable  Mother  de  Cban- 
tal,  on  the  feast  of  St.  Catharine  of  Siena:  "  O  God  ! 
my  well-beloved  daughter,  apropos  of  our  heart,  may  it 
happen  to  us  as  to  this  saint:  may  the  Saviour  take  our 
heart  and  put  His  own  in  its  place !  But  should  we  not 
rather  render  ours  all  His,  absolutely  His  ?  Yes,  let  Him 
do  it,  this  sweet  Jesus  !  I  conjure  Him  by  His  own  and 
by  the  love  that  He  incloses  in  it,  which  is  the  love  of 
loves  !  But  if  He  will  not  do  it,  (oh,  but  He  will  !)  at 
least  let  Him  not  prevent  us  from  going  to  take  His  !" 
And  the  amiable  saint  adds:  "  And  if  He  were  to  open 
our  breast  to  place  therein  His  own  Heart,  would  we 
not  let  Him  do  it?"  3 

Thus  it  is  not  enough  for  St.  Francis  de  Sales  to  lodge 
his  humble  little  Visitation  in  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  It  is 
this  Sacred  Heart  that  he  now  wishes  to  lodge  in  his 
humble  little  Visitation.  "  And  He  [Jesus]  cannot,"  he 
says,  "  prevent  our  taking  it  from  Him  for  that  pur- 
pose." 

Farther  on  his  words  are  still  more  clear,  more  pre- 
cise: "  My  very  dear  daughter,  are  we  not  children, 
adorers,  and  servants  of  the  loving  and  paternal  Heart 
of  our  Saviour?  Is  it  not  on  this  foundation  that  we 
have  built  our  hopes  ?  He  is  our  Master,  our  King,  our 
Father,  our  all.  Let  us  but  think  of  serving  Him  well, 
and  He  will  think  of  rewarding  us  well."4  And  again, 
in  almost  the  same  terms  :  "  Do  you   not  wish  to  be 

1  Lettre,  February  18,  1618. 

8  143d  Letter,  no  date. 

8  Lettre,  April  29,  1622. 

4  Lettres,  liv.  iv.     Letter  96,  without  date. 


148  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

daughters,  adorers,  and  servants  of  the  loving  Heart  of 
this  Divine  Saviour?  Is  it  not  on  this  burning  furnace 
of  dilection  that  you  have  cast  all  your  hopes  ?"  l  "  Unite 
your  heart  by  holy  submission  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus, 
which,  grafted  on  the  Divinity,  will  be  the  root  of  the 
tree  of  which  you  will  form  the  branches."2  And  finally 
this  word  which  threw  light  on  all  else,  and  which  bap- 
tized the  Visitation  by  its  true  name  :  "  The  religious  of 
the  Visitation  who  shall  be  so  happy  as  to  observe  their 
Rules  well  may  truly  bear  the  name  of  Evangelical 
Daughters,  established  in  these  latter  times  to  be  the 
imitators  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus  in  meekness  and  humil- 
ity, the  basis  and  foundation  of  their  Order.  It  will 
give  them  the  privilege  and  incomparable  grace  of  bear- 
ing the  title  of  Daughters  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus."  3 

Daughters  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  !  This  is  the 
name  that  St.  Francis  de  Sales  gave  to  his  religious  sixty 
years  before  the  revelation  made  to  Margaret  Mary.  He 
established  them  to  be  "  the  adorers  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,"  "  the  imitators  of  the  Sacred  Heart,"  "  the 
servants  of  the  Sacred  Heart."  The  Heart  of  Jesus  will 
be  "their  sojourn,"  "  the  root  of  the  tree  of  which  they 
will  be  the  branches,"  "  the  foundation  of  their  hopes 
and  the  cause  of  their  being."  "They  were  to  take 
from  Jesus  His  Heart,"  and  "  to  open  their  breast  to 
lodge  Him  therein,"  as  in  a  sanctuary. 

This  is  what  the  holy  Bishop  saw;  and,  carried  out  of 
himself  by  such  thoughts,  he  felt  that  something. great 
was  being  prepared.  "  Believe  me,  my  dear  Mother, 
God  wishes  I  know  not  what  great  things  from  us."4 
And  to  Mother  Favre:  "  His  all-powerful  hand  will  make 

1  "  Abridgment  of  the  Interior  Spirit  of  the  Religious  of  the  Visita- 
tion," explained  by  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  collected  by  Mgr.  de  Maupas, 
ch.  vi.  (Rouen,  1644):  De  l'abandon  a  la  Providence,  p.  34. 

9  lb.,  ch.  ix.  p.  53. 

3  "  Sentiments  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales  on  the  Sacred  Heart,"  p.  194. 

4  Lettre,  February,  161 5. 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       149 

of  this  little  Institute  more  than  men  can  imagine."  ' 
Whilst  contemplating  these  things,  and  beholding  his 
little  Visitation  "  coming  forth  from  the  pierced  side  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  and  called  to  the  honor  of  being  "  the 
sanctuary  of  His  Adorable  Heart;"  like  an  eminent  archi- 
tect, who  skilfully  causes  the  general  lines  and  the  least 
details  to  converge  to  the  determined  end,  he  organized 
his  whole  Institute  with  a  view  to  its  marvellous  mission. 

The  Visitation  was,  then,  to  become  a  contemplative 
Order,  and  as  such  its  whole  plan  is  changed  !  But 
then  "  it  is  in  the  Heart  of  Jesus  that  it  is  to  make  this 
continual  contemplation." 2  St.  Francis  studied  the 
kind  of  prayer  proper  for  the  Visitation,  the  prayer  of 
simple  attention,  of  simple  remission  and  repose  in  God. 
He  wished  this  look  to  be  fixed  on  the  Sacred  Heart; 
and  this  repose,  a  sweet  sleep  "  on  that  same  well- 
loved  Heart."  3  Hear  how  he  exalts  this  kind  of  prayer: 
"  O  my  daughters,  it  is  much  better  to  sleep  on  the  sacred 
breast  of  the  Saviour  than  to  watch  elsewhere,  wherever 
else  it  may  be."  He  made  each  of  his  daughters  take 
the  following  resolution:  "  I  shall  every  day  give  a  cer- 
tain time  to  this  sacred  sleep,  so  that  my  soul  in  imita- 
tion of  the  beloved  disciple  may  sleep  in  all  security  on  the 
amiable  breast,  nay,  in  the  loving  Heart  of  the  loving 
Saviour."  4 

"Our  blessed  Father,"  said  St.  Chantal,  "who  under- 
stood excellently  well  all  sorts  of  prayer,  has  always 
approved  of  this  [the  prayer  of  simple  regard].  He 
said  that,  whilst  others  ate  diverse  viands  at  the  Lord's 
table,  we  ought  to  rest  our  soul  and  all  our  affections 
on  His  loving  breast."  6 

1  Lettre,  October,  1617. 

2  "Interior  Spirit  of  the  Religious  of  the  Visitation,"  by  Mgr.  de 
Maupas,  p.  19. 

3  "  Treatise  of  the  Love  of  God,"  Migne,  p.  664. 

4  XXIII.  Entertainment  of   St.  Francis  de  Sales:  "De  la  crucifixion 
de  Notre-Seigneur  Jesus-Christ.' 

6  Answer  of  St.  Chantal  on  Article  XXIV. 


J  5°  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Not,  of  course,  that  in  this  contemplation  you  should 
forget  the  neighbor.  Oh,  this  dear  neighbor  !  You  must 
always  think  of  him.  But  St.  Francis  de  Sales  wishes 
that  his  daughters  see  him  no  more  except  in  the  Heart 
of  Jesus  and  as  if  through  His  sacred  breast.  "  There," 
said  he,  "who  would  not  love  him?  who  would  not  bear 
with  his  defects?  Yes,  he  is  there,  this  dear  neighbor, 
in  the  breast  of  the  Saviour.  He  is  there,  so  loved  and 
so  amiable  that  the  Lover  dies  of  love  of  him."  ' 

All  the  Rules  of  the  Visitation  proceed  from  the  same 
thought,  and  conduct  to  the  same  end.  "I  assure  you, 
my  beloved  daughters,"  says  the  saint,  "  you  will  capti- 
vate the  Heart  of  Jesus  if  you  are  faithful  to  the  practice 
of  your  Rules."  2 

"O  God  !"  he  cries  elsewhere,  "how  necessary  it' is 
that  our  poor  heart  should  live  no  more  but  under 
obedience  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  !  And  since  this  Sacred 
Heart  has  no  more  affectionate  law  than  meekness, 
humility,  and  charity,  we  must  perforce  hold  firmly  to 
these  dear  virtues."  3  He  repeats  on  every  key  that  all 
the  Rules  converge  to  two  points,  humility  and  meek- 
ness, and  that  he  has  expressly  chosen  these  two  virtues 
because  they  are  those  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  St.  Chan- 
tal  speaks  in  the  same  way:  "  Inculcate  to  all  your 
daughters,"  she  writes  to  a  Superioress,  "  the  practice 
of  these  words  of  the  Lord:  '  Learn  of  Me  that  I  am  meek 
and  humble  of  heart'  They  are  the  substance,  the  life 
of  our  holy  vocation."  4 

It  was  after  organizing  thus  the  interior  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, "after  giving  it  for  golden  foundation,  humility 
and  meekness,"  because  these  are  the  virtues  of  the 
Heart  of  Jesus,  that  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  as  if  wishing 

1  XII.  Entertainment:  "  De  la  cordialite." 

2  "  History  of  the  Gallery."  See  also,  in  the  "Little  Customs,"  the 
Entertainment  with  Sister  Claude  Simplicienne. 

3  "  Life  of  the  Venerable  Mother  Clement,"  published  in  1685,  p.  264. 

4  Letter  to  Sister  de  Blonay,  Migne,  torn.  ii.  p.  1069. 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       151 

to  tear  away  the  last  veil  and  initiate  the  world  itself 
into  the  grand  thought  that  ruled  him  finally  realized 
the  project  of  which  he  had  spoken  to  his  saintly  co- 
operatrix,  June  10,  161 1.  He  gave  to  his  Institute  as 
coat-of-arms  the  Heart  of  Jesus  crowned  with  thorns. 
The  religious  wear  it  engraven  on  their  pectoral  cross. 
It  blazons  at  the  head  of  all  their  writings,  private  or 
public.  It  is  used  as  a  seal  for  their  letters.  They  have 
it  sculptured  on  the  exterior  doors  of  their  convents.1 
He  acted  like  a  skilful  architect  who,  after  having  con- 
structed a  palace,  puts  on  the  main  door  the  escutcheon 
of  the  noble  lord  who  is. to  reside  therein. 

All  this,  assuredly,  is  very  striking,  when  we  reflect 
that  every  one  of  these  facts  is  over  sixty  years  prior  to 
the  revelations  of  Margaret  Mary.  But  what  follows  is 
perhaps  still  more  astonishing. 

St.  Francis  de  Sales  was  hardly  dead  when  his  saintly 
and  faithful  co-operatrix,  in  a  spirit  of  filial  piety,  col- 
lected all  the  little  papers,  the  most  secret,  most  con- 
fidential that  she  had  received  from  her  holy  Father, 
and  directed  them  to  the  Order  to  be  an  eternal  memo- 
rial of  him.  "  My  very  dear  Sisters,"  said  the  venerable 
foundress  in  the  letter  that  forwarded  them,  "  we  cor- 
dially address  to  you  this  writing,  because  it  is  taken 
from  the  works  of  our  blessed  Father.  I  am  particu- 
larly pleased  to  send  you  several  little  collections  that 
we  have  found  written  by  his  dear  and  saintly  hand. 
They  are  his  own  thoughts,  his  own  words;  and  in  them 
you  will  easily  recognize  his  spirit.  We  have  tried  to 
abridge  them,  and  arrange  the  whole  into  meditations." 

1  "  The  seal  of  all  the  monasteries  shall  be  engraved  with  a  heart,  in 
the  middle  of  which  there  shall  be  the  most  holy  name  of  Jesus  and  of 
Mary  together,  surrounded  by  a  crown  of  thorns,  and  transpierced  by 
two  arrows,  with  a  little  cross,  the  lower  end  of  which  shall  be  in  the 
cavity  of  the  heart,  and  the  head  within  the  crown.  There  shall  be  no 
other  form  of  seal  in  the  house.  The  letters  shall  all  be  sealed  with  it." 
("  Custom  Book"  of  the  Religious  of  the  Visitation,  compiled  by  St. 
Chantal,  p.  78.) 


152  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

There  are  two  series,  called  in  the  Order  respectively 
"  the  Great  "  and  "  the  Little  "  Meditations.  In  the  first 
collection,1  signed  by  St.  Chantal  and  bearing  date  of 
July,  1637,  there  are  some  remarkable  things;  for  ex- 
ample, the  eighteenth  meditation:  "  By  what  means  the 
Religious  Soul  ravishes  the  Heart  of  her  Beloved." 
But  it  is  the  second  collection,  particularly,  that  is 
astonishing  from  this  stand-point.2  There  is  one  medi- 
tation on  the  subject  that  now  occupies  us,  so  clear,  so 
explicit,  in  which  the  saint  calls  his  daughters  to  medi- 
tate on  the  honor  that  God  has  done  them  in  co?ifiding  to 
them  His  Heart.  This  meditation  is  in  terms  so  precise 
that  we  at  first  believed  it  written  at  a  later  date.  It 
appeared  to  us  impossible  that  such  a  page  could  have 
been  extracted  by  St.  Chantal  from  the  papers  of  St. 
Francis  de  Sales,  unless  both  were  prophets.  We 
yielded  only  when  we  had  in  our  hands  a  copy  pub- 
lished undoubtedly  during  the  life  of  St.  Chantal  and 
more  than  sixty  years  before  the  apparition  of  the  Lord 
to  Margaret  Mary.3 

1  Live  +  Jesus.  "  Meditations  for  the  Annual  Retreats,"  taken  from 
several  collections  by  the  hand  of  our  holy  Father.  This  collection  is 
prefaced  by  a  letter  of  St.  Chantal,  and  dated  thus:  "  From  this  first 
monastery  of  the  Visitation  of  Holy  Mary  of  Annecy,  August  15,  1637, 
begun  under  the  triumphant  protection  of  the  Mother  of  God."  One 
vol.  in  white  parchment.  On  the  first  page  a  silver  heart  in  rays,  in  the 
centre  of  the  heart  Christ's  monogram,  I.  H.S.,  and  below  three  nails. 
This  volume  contains  thirty-three  meditations. 

2  Live  Hh  Jesus.  "  Spiritual  Exercises  for  a  Ten  Days'  Solitude,  ac- 
cording to  the  spirit  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  taken  for  the  greater  part 
from  his  writings."  One  vol.,  republished  on  white  parchment,  without 
date  or  publisher's  name.  It  comprises  only  ten  meditations,  one  for 
each  day,  but  they  are  most  beautiful. 

3  What  created  the  difficulty  for  us  is  that  the  second  collection  is  not 
dated;  it  does  not  even  give  the  name  of  the  publisher.  But  we  could 
not  doubt  the  compilation  was  St.  Chantal's.  The  traditions  of  the 
Order,  the  preface,  the  Directory  on  page  16,  the  introduction  of  the 
different  parts,  a  multitude  of  counsels,  of  directions,  which  could  come 
only  from  the  foundress, — all,  even  the  style,  the    orthography,  and 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       153 

This  is  the  meditation  that  St.  Chantal  herself  copied 
from  several  little  collections  found  written  by  the  holy 
hand  of  our  blessed  Father,  and  which  she  recom- 
mended to  her  daughters.  Again  I  ask,  is  this  a  proph- 
ecy? Is  it  mere  chance?  It  is  entitled  "  Eighth  Medi- 
tation:    Of  the  Love  that  Jesus  Christ  Bears  us." 

After  having  made  her  dear  daughters  consider  the 
iove  that  Jesus  Christ  bore  them,  first,  in  the  mystery  of 
the  Incarnation;  second,  in  that  of  the  Eucharist;  third, 
in  that  of  the  Dolorous  Passion,  she  comes  to  a  fourth 
consideration,  altogether  unique  when  we  reflect  upon 
the  date  at  which  she  wrote: 

"  Consideration  IV. 

"  Consider  that  the  sweet  Saviour  not  only  showed 
His  love  for  us,  as  well  as  for  all  other  Christians,  by  the 
work  of  our  redemption;  but  that  He  obliges  us  espe- 
cially, as  daughters  of  the  Visitation,  by  the  gift  and 
favor  that  He  has  made  to  our  Order  and  to  each  of  us 
in  particular  of  His  Heart,  or  rather  of  the  virtues  it 
contains,  since  He  has  founded  our  most  lovely  Insti- 
tute on  these  two  precepts:  Learn  of  Me  that  I  am 
meek  and  humble  of  heart.  This  is  the  portion  of  His 
treasures  that  has  fallen  to  us.     Having  given   to  other 

that  beautiful  cover  of  white  parchment,  gave  us  the  date  of  the  compi- 
lation and  the  certainty  that  it  was  St.  Chantal's.  But  what  we  there 
read  was  so  important  that  we  wished  to  have  the  material  proof  of  it. 
At  Rouen  first,  then  at  Nantes,  Boulogne,  Dijon,  wherever  we  went 
we  asked  to  see  the  oldest  copies  of  the  "  Meditations  for  Retreats." 
We  found  them  bearing  like  the  others  no  date,  but  an  approbation  of 
the  Doctors  of  the  Sorbonne  which  was  dated.  Here  it  is:  "We  the 
undersigned,  Doctors  of  Theology  of  the  Sacred  Faculty  of  Paris, 
approve,  praise,  and  highly  esteem  this  book  of  meditations  for 
retreats,  etc.,  after  the  corrections  and  abridgments  made  by  us,  by 
which  we  hope  that  the  Lord  will  be  blessed.  Given  this  day,  Feast  of 
St.  John  Evangelist,  Dec.  27,  1643.''  Now,  St.  Chantal  died  in  1641, 
and  the  corrections  referred  to  a  previous  edition  that  we  had  had  until 
then  in  our  possession.     The  proof  could  not  be  more  complete. 


154  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Orders,  to  one  eminent  prayer,  to  another  solitude,  to 
another  austerity,  He  bequeathed  to  us  what,  undoubt- 
edly, He  esteemed  more  dear,  since  His  precious  Heart 
is  its  depository.  Ah,  could  we  but  have  this  satisfac- 
tion, could  we  learn  and  practise  well  the  lesson  that 
this  loving  Saviour  gives  us,  we  should  then  be  honored 
in  bearing  the  title  of  '■Daughters  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus?  ' 

Mother  de  Chantal  then  concludes  with  this  cry  of 
gratitude  and  thanksgiving: 

"  It  is  very  sweet,  O  my  soul,  that  this  gracious  Jesus 
has  chosen  us  to  make  us  the  daughters  of  His  Heart. 
Why,  O  my  Saviour,  hast  Thou  not  so  favored  others 
in  Thy  Church  ?  What  have  we  done  for  Thy  Good- 
ness to  have  from  all  eternity  destined  for  us  this  treasure  in 
these  last  ages  of  the  world 7" 

In  founding  every  religious  Order,  God  ordinarily 
opens  to  it  a  source  of  love  for  the  interior  aliment  of 
its  divine  life  and  the  means  of  its  apostolate.  To  one, 
the  cross  and  the  rigors  of  penance;  to  another,  the 
desert  and  the  invisible  perfumes  of  contemplation;  and 
to  a  third,  the  love  of  souls  and  apostolic  ardor.  The 
Visitation  was  to  have  its  special  portion,  namely,  the 
sacred  deposit  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  But  who  will  not 
be  astonished,  recognizing  with  what  clearness,  what 
increasing  precision  St.  Francis  de  Sales  and  St.  Chan- 
tal had,  sixty  years  before,  the  intuitive  perception  of 
it  ?  It  was  at  first  only  a  sign,  a  word,  a  vague  linea- 
ment: "The  Heart  of  Jesus  will  be  the  refuge,  the 
sojourn  of  the  daughters  of  the  Visitation."  The  idea 
becomes  more  distinct,  better  defined:  "  It  is  on  the 
Sacred  Heart  that  the  Visitation  is  founded."  "The 
Sacred  Heart  is  the  root  that  bears  the  Visitation." 
Is  this  enough?  No:  the  idea  seems  now  to  be  endued 
with  life;  it  is  warmed,  it  takes  color  as  in  a  picture: 
'.'  The  religious  of  the  Visitation  shall  be  the  adorers  of 
the  Sacred  Heart."  Again:  "They  shall  be  the  ser- 
vants of  the  Sacred  Heart.      Their  spirit   shall  be  the 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       155 

imitation  of  the  Sacred  Heart;  their  arms,  a  heart 
crowned  with  thorns;  their  title,  '  Daughters  of  the 
Heart  of  Jesus.'  And  to  accomplish  all  this,  their  gift, 
the  privilege  laid  up  for  them  from  all  eternity,  and 
which  shall  be  theirs  in  the  latter  times,  in  preference 
to  all  other  religious  Orders,  will  be  the  Heart  of 
Jesus."  Behold  the  words  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales 
echoed  by  St.  Chantal.  Then  both  died,  and  half  a 
century  passed  before  the  humble  yet  illustrious  virgin 
appeared  who  was  to  give  sense  and  meaning  to  their 
words,  who  was  to  cast  around  their  divine  presenti- 
ments the  halo  of  prophecy. 

We  may,  however,  well  believe  that  this  half-century 
did  not  roll  round  without  the  Visitation's  turning  its 
eyes  and  its  heart  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  St.  Francis 
de  Sales  had  spoken  too  loudly,  and  hie  words  were  too 
tenderly  meditated  by  his  daughters,  for  his  pious  in- 
spirations to  be  forgotten.  Indeed,  when  one  enters 
the  convents  during  those  sixty  years  that  separate  us 
from  the  first  revelations  made  to  Margaret  Mary,  we 
perceive  everywhere,  not  indeed  public  devotion,  but 
in  a  multitude  of  the  religious  eminent  for  piety,  a  de- 
votion deep,  tender,  and  heart-felt,  neither  public  nor 
propagated,  but  which  God  preserved  by  extraordinary 
graces. 

Let  us  quote  some  facts.  At  Annecy,  for  example, 
Sister  Anne-Marie  Rosset  went  one  day  to  the  novitiate 
oratory  to  kiss,  according  to  her  custom  in  passing,  the 
feet  of  a  large  crucifix  still  preserved  there.  "  It  seemed 
to  me,"  she  said  when  relating  the  fact  to  the  venerable 
Mother  de  Chantal,  "  that  my  Jesus  stooped  toward  me, 
and  that  my  lips,  which  were  on  the  wound  of  His  foot, 
were  suddenly  removed  to  that  of  His  side.  My  hea*** 
was  so  forcibly  drawn  into  my  Lord's  that  I  cannot  ex- 
press what  I  experienced,  nor  what  passed  within  me 
during  its  passage   into   the  Sacred  Heart   of  Jesus." 


156  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

This  was  in  1614,  hardly  four  years  after  the  foundation.4 
A  little  later,  in  1618,  in  the  same  convent  of  Annecy, 
our  old  manuscripts  show  us  Mother  de  la  Roche  teach- 
ing the  young  novices  to  read  in  the  Heart  of  Jesus 
dying; 2  Mother  de*  Brechard  incessantly  studying  this 
Heart  all  luminous,  in  which,  she  said,  the  most  simple 
very  quickly  became  the  most  learned;3  Mother  Bally, 
of  whom  it  was  said  that  between  the  Heart  of  Jesus 
and  her  own  there  was  room  for  nothing;  *  and,  in  fine, 
so  many  others  whom  the  Annecy  Annals  show  us 
holily  enamored  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  at  a  time  the 
most  remote  from  the  establishment  of  its  devotion. 

At  Melun,  in  1636,  the  venerable  Mother  Clement, 
being  in  prayer,  was  vouchsafed  a  privilege  like  to  that 
with  which  God  honored  St.  Catharine  of  Siena.  "  II 
seemed  to  me,"  she  wrote,  "  that  God  took  my  heart  out 
of  my  breast,  and  put  His  own  in  its  place;  so  that,  as 
it  appeared  to  me,  I  had  no  other  heart  than  that  of 
Jesus."  Ravished  thus  into  ecstasy,  she  saw  her  blessed 
Father  St.  Francis  de  Sales  making  his  sojourn  in  the 
Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  there  receiving  the  inspira- 
tion to  erect  an  Order  which  would  have  only  one  end, 
that  of  honoring  the  Divine  Heart  of  Jesus.  In  another 
ecstasy  she  saw  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  drawing  from 
the  pierced  side  of  Jesus  Christ  and  pouring  over  her 
dear  Visitation  all  the  graces  of  which  it  had  need  to 
fulfil  its  mission.6 

At  Turin,  in  1635,  an  humble  domestic  Sister,  Jeanne- 
Benigne  Gojos,  received  still  more  wonderful  favors. 
She  spent  her  life  in  adoring  and  invoking  the  Heart  of 
Jesus  in  these  words:  "  O  Heart  of  Jesus,  pardon  the 

1  Life  of  Mother  Anne-Marie  Rosset,  by  Mother  de  Chaugy. 
*  Annals  of  the  Visitation  of  Annecy. 

1  lb.     Life  of  Mother  de  Brechard,  by  Mother  de  Chaugy. 
4  Life  of  Mother  Bally. 

s  Life   of   the   Venerable   Mother   Anne-Marguerite    Clement,    etc 
Paris,  1686,  p.  109. 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       157 

whole  world  and  punish  only  Jeanne-Benigne  !  Make 
her  bear  all  the  chastisements  due  to  the  guilty  world." 
Rapt  frequently  into  ecstasy,  united  in  an  ineffable 
manner  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  sharing  its  sadness,  and 
inflamed  with  the  desire  of  making  it  known  and  loved, 
she  foresaw  in  divine  light  the  virgin  of  Paray,  and 
announced  the  great  mission  with  which  she  would  one 
day  be  charged.1  At  the  same  time,  1635,  at  Lyons, 
Mother  M.  Genevieve  de  Pradel  devoted  herself  in 
quality  of  victim  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  "  for  which  she 
had  all  her  life  the  most  tender  devotion,"  and  from 
which  she  drew  strength  that  frequently  raised  her 
to  heroism.2  Shortly  before,  at  Paris,  1627,  Mme.  de 
Boutelier  left  the  world  where  God  had  given  her  a 
great  name,  a  handsome  fortune,  children  elevated  to 
the  highest  honors  of  Church  and  State,  and  a  number 
of  charming  grandchildren.  She  left  all  for  the  sole 
reason  that  she  was  too  happy,  and  that  on  account  of 
her  great  happiness  she  trembled  for  her  eternal  salva- 
tion. She  came  to  the  Visitation,  and  there  found  her- 
self still  more  happy.  But  why  did  she  not  tremble 
there?  "Ah!"  said  she,  "it  is  that  now  I  see  myself 
entirely  hidden  in  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  in  it  there  is 
no  room  for  fear." 

At  Chartres,  1661,  Sister  Marie-Guillemette  Dunas 
made  her  ordinary  residence  in  the  wound  of  Jesus' 
side.  The  Lord  had  taught  her  that  there  she  would 
be  near  His  Heart,  and  that  there  she  might  await  in 
peace  His  judgment  at  the  hour  of  death.  The  same 
year,  in  the  second  convent  of  Lyons,  they  make  men- 
tion of  a  religious,  Mother  de  Rioux,  who  lived  only 
for  the  Sacred  Heart.  She  left  some  writings  which 
we  have  read,  and  which  are  embalmed  with  the  most 
tender  and  ardent  devotion   for  the   Heart  of  Jesus.0 

1  "  The  Charm  of  Divine  Love;  or,  Life  of  the  Devout  Sister  Jeanne- 
Benigne  Gojos,"  p.  353. 

s  Annals  of  the  Visitation  of  Lyons. 

3  Archives  of  the  Second  Monastery  of  Lyons,  MSS.  of  Mother  r" 
Rioux. 


1 58  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  A  lac  0  que. 

At  Perigueux,  in  1664,  the  feast  of  the  Conception,  a 
pious  and  fervent  religious,  Marie-Pacifique  Collet, 
being  in  prayer,  asked  for  purity  of  heart.  "  All  at 
once,"  said  she,  "  God  did  me  a  favor  of  which  it  makes 
me  tremble  to  think.  It  seemed  to  me  that  our 
Saviour  told  me  to  approach  His  Divine  Heart,  the 
source  of  all  purity.  At  the  same  instant,  He  appeared 
to  me,  if  I  do  not  deceive  myself,  and  made  me  repose 
on  His  Sacred  Heart."  '  Shortly  after,  at  Amiens, 
Mother  Anne-Seraphine  Cornet  felt  an  attraction  to 
consecrate  herself  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  The  manu- 
script annals  of  the  house  have  carefully  noted  that  this 
was  "  before  knowing  anything  of  the  favors  that 
the  saintly  Sister  Margaret  Mary  received  from  the 
Lord;"  and  they  enter  into  details  that  show  Sister 
Anne-Seraphine  to  be  one  of  the  most  generous  lovers 
of  the  Heart  of  Jesus.2  We  read  the  same  of  Mother 
Marie-Seraphine  de  Gaillard,  who  passed  from  the 
Order  of  Citeaux  to  the  Visitation,  from  the  school  of 
St.  Bernard  to  that  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  and  who  has 
left  us  some  meditations  redolent  with  the  most  ardent 
devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.3 

How  many  names  we  could  add  to  these!  In  almost 
all  the  Visitation  convents  we  find  religious  of  high 
sanctity  favored  with  the  most  striking  lights  on  the 
Sacred  Heart.  But  what  is  most  astonishing  is  that 
nowhere  do  we  perceive  the  least  temptation  to  propa- 
gate the  devotion.  The  worship  is  entirely  private  and 
personal.  We  discover  no  exterior  manifestation. 
Not  a  single  religious  thinks  of  communicating  it  even 
to  the  Sisters  of  her  own  convent;  and,  for  still  stronger 
reasons,  not  one  dreams  of  spreading  it  beyond  the 
grate.  Here,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Heart  of 
Jesus  has  its  adorers  and  lovers,  but  no  evangelists  or 
apostles. 

1  Life  of  Sister  Marie-Pacifique  Collet. 

*  Annals  of  the  Visitation  of  Amiens. 

*  Annals  of  th^  Visitation  of  Aix- 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       159 

In  the  list  of  the  convents  in  which  we  have  seen  the 
devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  flourishing  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  it  may  be  surprising  that  we  have  not 
cited  Paray.  But  neither  in  its  Annals,  which  we  have 
read  carefully,  nor  in  the  lives  of  the  religious,  nor  in 
the  archives,  so  rich  and  so  well  kept,  is  there  one  word, 
one  line  relative  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  And  what  is 
still  more  remarkable,  Margaret  Mary  is  not  less  than 
her  Sisters  a  stranger  to  this  devotion.  Read  her 
Memoire,  study  her  first  steps  in  the  religious  life,  and 
we  find  not  the  slightest  allusion  to  it.  She  herself 
declares  that  her  eyes  were  never  turned  to  the  sacred 
side  until  the  day  on  which  God,  drawing  aside  the 
veil,  presented  to  her  His  Adorable  Heart  with  the 
injunction  to  make  it  known  and  adored  by  the  whole 
world. 

This  day  is  come.  After  having  for  six  hundred 
years  embalmed  the  solitudes  of  the  Church,  it  is  time 
for  this  mighty  devotion  to  go  forth,  to  quicken  faith 
and  inflame  hearts.  The  world  had  grown  cold.  Faith, 
like  love,  had  diminished.  Minds  were  darkened,  hearts 
saddened.  On  the  other  hand,  souls  sensitive  as  those 
that  in  the  Middle  Ages  chose  to  shut  themselves  up  in 
cloisters  are  now  multiplied  in  the  world.  The  per- 
fume has  escaped  from  its  vase.  Its  odor  is  every- 
where: in  the  bosom  of  Christian  families,  and  in  recol- 
lected hearts  truly  capable  of  understanding  all  that  is 
most  exquisite  in  the  mysteries  of  Christianity. 

O  Jesus!  Jesus!  The  Church  and  the  world  claim 
Thy  Heart.  Some  detached  sparks  from  this  burning 
flame  will  not  suffice  us.  The  furnace  itself  is  what  we 
want.  The  virgin  is  ready,  likewise  the  sanctuary.  Holy 
angels  who  guard  our  soul,  lead  to  the  altar  the  faith- 
ful virgin,  and  by  her,  through  her  purified  hands,  send 
forth  over  the  face  of  the  earth  the  fire  that  warms, 
renews,  and  vivifies! 


Go  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE   REVELATIONS   OF   THE  SACRED    HEART. 

1673-1675. 

"Si  scires  donum  Dei." 

"If  thou  didst  know  the  gift  of  God!" — St.  John  iv.  10. 

"  Eo   u.sque    procedens   ut   ipsius   recumberet  pectore    Salvatoris. " 

"  She  mounted  up  and  reposed  on  the  breast  of  the  Saviour  Himself." 
— Leonine  Sacramentary ,  Pre/,  of  the  Mass  of  St.  John. 

"  Beatus  qui  supra  pectus  Domini  recubuit!  Fluenta  Evangelii  de 
ipso  sacro  Dominici  pectoris  fonte  potavit." 

"  Blessed  is  he  who  has  leaned  on  the  breast  of  the  Lord!  He  drew 
from  the  sacred  fountain  of  the  Saviour's  Heart  the  living  waters  of 
the  Gospel. " — Rom.  Brev. ,  Feast  oj  St.  John. 

kjffiTE  must  recall  what  has  been  said  in  the  fifth 
chapter  of  this  Life.  What  most  astonished  the 
Sisters  of  Paray  on  examining  the  life  of  Mar- 
garet Mary  is  the  length  and  ecstatic  character  of  her 
prayer.  On  certain  days,  for  example,  when  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  was  exposed,  she  never  left  the 
choir.  Feeble  in  health,  and  sometimes  even  rising 
from  sickness,  she  remained  entire  hours  motionless  on 
her  knees,  without  support,  her  hands  joined,  her  eyes 
lowered.  To  her  devotions  of.  the  day  she  began, 
toward  the  end  of  1673,  to  add  prayers  during  the 
night.  We  have  seen  that,  particularly  during  the 
night  between  Holy  Thursday  and  Friday,  she  remained 
twelve  consecutive  hours  on  her  knees,  so  absorbed 
that  she  heard  nothing  of  what  passed  around  her. 
The  Sisters,  not  knowing  how  to  describe  such  a  state, 
compared  her  to  a  statue  of  marble,  and  called  her  an 
"  ecstatic."  Frequently  she  came  from  prayer  flushed 
and   trembling,   unable   to   stand,    and    ready  to    faint. 


Courtyard  in  which  the   Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus   surrounded  by 
Seraphim  appeared  to  St.  Margaret  Mary. 


The  Revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart.      1 6 1 

Three  or  four  times,  even,  it  was  necessary  to  carry  her 
swooning  under  the  assaults  o '  a  love  too  strong  for 
mortal  to  bear. 

It  was  under  such  circumstances,  and  during  such 
ecstatic  prayers,  that,  unsuspected  by  the  Community, 
took  place  the  grand  revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 
We  say  revelations;  for  there  were  three  of  them,  three 
and  distinct,  with  several  months  intervening  between 
them.  The  first  was  on  December  27,  1673,  when  Mar- 
garet Mary  was  twenty-six  years  of  age  and  had  been 
professed  only  a  little  over  a  year.  The  second  was  in  the 
following  year,  1674.  Of  the  precise  day  we  are  ignorant 
The  Blessed  Sacrament  was  exposed  in  the  chapel; 
and,  from  the  customs  of  the  time,  we  may  conjecture 
that  it  was  during  the  octave  of  Corpus  Christi.  The 
third  took  place  June  16,  1675,  on  a  day  °f  tne  same 
octave.  There  was,  then,  between  these  apparitions  a 
very  considerable  interval — some  months  between  the 
first  and  the  second,  and  one  year  at  least  between  the 
second  and  the  third.  This  was  not  too  much.  Mar- 
garet had  time  to  recover  from  the  state  of  emotion 
consequent  upon  each  of  these  apparitions;  for  her 
agitation  and  weakness  were  such  that,  once  in  partic- 
ular, it  was  thought  she  would  die. 

When  we  consider  these  three  apparitions  in  their 
entirety  from  another  point  of  view,  we  are  struck  by 
their  order,  their  gradation,  their  increasing  beauty. 
It  is  like  a  drama  in  three  acts,  in  which  God  raised 
little  by  little  the  mind  of  His  servant  to  the  full  under- 
standing of  the  mission  that  He  was  so  unexpectedly 
about  to  confide  to  her. 

For  the  rest,  we  have  an  irrefragable  witness  of  the 
apparitions — Margaret  Mary  herself.  Obliged  by  her 
Superiors  to  put  the  recital  of  these  marvels  into  writ- 
ing, she  did  it  watering  the  paper  with  her  tears;  and 
when  it  was  returned  to  her  she  threw  it  in  the  fire. 
Only  a   single  one  of  those  copy-books  remains;  and 


1 62  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

there  is  in  it  a  tone  of  humility  so  sincere,  a  frankness 
so  true,  forgetfulness  of  self  so  great,  and  traces  of 
emotion  so  deep,  that,  even  were  the  Church  not  con- 
vinced of  the  truth  of  the  apparitions,  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  doubt  them  after  listening  to  Margaret 
Mary's  accents  whilst  relating  them. 

"  It  is  for  Thy  love  alone,  O  my  God,"  she  began, 
"  that  I  submit  to  write  this  in  obedience,  and  I  ask  Thy 
pardon  for  the  resistance  I  have  made.  But  as  no  one 
except  Thyself  can  know  the  extent  of  the  repugnance 
that  I  feel,  so  it  is  only  Thou  that  canst  give  me  the 
strength  to  overcome  it."  Then  she  added  these  ad- 
mirable words:  "  I  receive  this  order  as  coming  from 
Thee;  and  by  its  fulfilment  I  wish  to  punish  the  excessive 
joy  and  precaution  that  I  have  taken  to  follow  the  great  in- 
clination that  I  have  always  had  to  bury  myself  in  eternal 
oblivion  of  creatures.  O  my  Sovereign  Good,  may  I  write 
nothing  but  for  Thy  greater  glory  and  my  still  greater 
confusion!"  • 

She  then  took  her  pen  and  began  her  recital.  But 
soon  she  stopped  dumfounded,  speechless,  confused, 
utterly  unable  to  overcome  her  repugnance.  "  O  my 
Lord  and  my  God,  who  alone  knowest  the  pain  that  I 
suffer  in  fulfilling  this  obedience  and  the  violence  that  I 
must  do  myself  to  overcome  the  repugnance  and  con- 
fusion that  I  feel  in  writing  all  this,  grant  me  grace  to 
die  rather  than  put  down  anything  but  what  springs 
from  Thy  Spirit  of  truth,  and  which  will  give  Thee 
glory  and  me  confusion.  In  mercy,  O  my  Sovereign 
Good,  let  it  never  be  seen  by  any  one  excepting  by  him 
whom  Thou  wishest  to  examine  it,  so  that  this  writing 
?nay  not  prevent  my  remaining  buried  in  eternal  conte?npt  and 
forgetfulness  of  creatures.  O  my  God,  give  this  consola- 
tion to  Thy  poor  miserable  slave."2 

A  little  farther  on,  having  resumed  her  recital,  and 
again  crushed  by  the  work,  we  read:  "  I  proceed  through 
1  Memoire,  p.  289.  2  lb.  p.  344. 


The  Revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart.     163 

obedience,  O  my  God,  without  any  other  design  than 
that  of  satisfying  Thee  by  the  martyrdom  which  I  suffer 
in  penning  these  lines,  every  word  of  which  seems  to 
me  a  sacrifice.  But  mayest  Thou  be  glorified  by  it 
eternally!". 

The  same  plaintive  tone  is  heard  throughout  her 
Memoire;  the  same  contest  is  witnessed  between  humil- 
ity and  obedience.  At  one  instant  humility  lays  down 
the  pen;  at  the  next  obedience  makes  her  take  it  up.  It 
was  thus  that  was  finished,  in  an  incomparable  glory  of 
sanctity,  the  recital  of  the  three  revelations  relative  to 
the  Heart  of  Jesus.  We  shall  now  make  them  known  in 
Margaret  Mary's  own  words.  The  Church  has  studied 
the  triple  recital  with  the  severity  she  always  brings  to 
this  kind  of  examination,  and  has  solemnly  declared 
their  authenticity. 

First  Revelation. 
December  27,  1673. 

The  first  of  the  three  revelations  took  place,  no  one  can 
doubt,  on  the  feast  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  Decem- 
ber 27,  1673.  It  was  the  same  day  on  which,  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty-three  years  before,  St.  Gertrude  had 
learned  in  a  vision  that  if  the  well-beloved  disciple  had 
said  nothing  of  the  sacred  pulsations  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  it  was  because  God  reserved  to  Himself  to  speak 
of  them  at  a  time  in  which  the  world  would  begin  to 
grow  cold.  The  day  could  not  have  been  better  chosen 
for  this  revelation.  We  have  the  account  of  it  written 
by  Margaret  Mary.  She  gives  us  the  whole  scene  to 
the  life. 

"  Once,"  said  she,  "being  before  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment and  having  a  little  more  leisure  than  usual,  I  felt 
wholly  filled  with  this  Divine  Presence,  and  so  power- 
fully moved  by  it  that  I  forgot  myself  and  the  place  in 
which  I  was.  I  abandoned  myself  to  this  Divine  Spirit, 
and  yielded  my  heart   to   the  power  of   His  love.     He 


* 64  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

made  me  rest  for  a  long  time  on  His  divine  breast,  where 
He  discovered  to  me  the  wonders  of  His  love  and  the 
inexplicable  secrets  of  His  Sacred  Heart,  which  He  had 
hitherto  kept  hidden  from  me.  Now  He  opened  it  to  me  for 
the  first  time,  but  in  a  way  so  real,  so  sensible,  that  it  left 
me  no  room  to  doubt,  though  I  am  always  in  dread  of 
deceiving  myself."  x 

We  see  it  was  "  the  first  time  "  that  the  Lord  showed 
His  Heart  to  Margaret;  until  then  "  He  had  always  kept 
it  hidden."  And  such  is  the  character  of  this  apparition, 
and  the  impression  that  she  receives  from  it,  that  the 
humble  virgin,  ordinarily  so  timid,  so  distrustful  of  self, 
"could  conceive  no  doubt  of  it." 

Jesus  had  then  spoken;  and  "This,"  adds  Margaret, 
"as  it  seems  to  me,  is  what  passed:  The  Lord  said  to 
me,  '  My  Divine  Heart  is  so  passionately  in  love  with 
men  that  it  can  no  longer  contain  within  itself  the  flames 
of  its  ardent  charity.  It  must  pour  them  out  by  thy 
means,  and  manifest  itself  to  them  to  enrich  them  with 
its  precious  treasures,  which  contain  all  the  graces  of 
which  they  have  need  to  be  saved  from  perdition.'  He 
added:  '  I  have  chosen  thee  as  an  abyss  of  unworthiness 
and  ignorance  to  accomplish  so  great  a  design,  so  that 
all  may  be  done  by  Me.'  " 

Thus,  according  to  the  conditions  of  this  first  revela- 
tion, the  new  devotion  was  going  to  be  the  grand  effort 
of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  "  passionately  in  love  with  men," 
and  wishing  at  any  cost  to  draw  them  from  the  abyss  of 
perdition.  Until  then  ordinary  means  had  sufficed. 
But  in  the  sad  state  in  which  the  world  was,  Jesus  could 
no  longer  "  contain  the  flames  of  this  burning  charity 
in  His  Heart,"  which  wished  to  save  all  men.  His  pierced 
side  opened,  and  His  Heart  longed  to  come  forth.  It 
had  as  yet  only  shown  itself  in  cloisters  and  to  chosen 
souls,  and  in  showing  it  to  them  had  made  them  faint 
from   love.     But  now  it  wished   to  show  itself  to  the 

1  M6moire,  p.  325. 


The  Revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart     165 

multitude,  and  tiy  whether,  in  revealing  the  hidden 
secrets  of  love,  it  might  succeed  in  melting  the  ice  that 
was  being  heaped  up  in  the  midst  of  Christian  people. 
Such  was  the  sense  of  the  first  apparition. 

Jesus  said  nothing  else  to  Margaret  Mary,  excepting 
that,  for  the  accomplishment  of  His  design,  He  made  use 
of  her;  not  in  spite  of  her  weakness  and  ignorance,  but 
rather  on  account  of  them,  that  all  should  be  done  by 
Himself,  But  when  ?  how  ?  in  what  manner  ?  The 
Lord  did  not  say,  and  Margaret  Mary  had  neither  the 
thought  nor  the  strength  to  ask  Him. 

Since,  however,  there  was  question  of  a  public  min- 
istry, the  Lord  desired  to  leave  her  a  living  and  unques- 
tionable proof  of  the  truth  of  what  had  just  passed. 

Before  disappearing,  He  asked  if  she  desired  to  give 
Him  her  heart.     But  let  her  speak  for  herself: 

"  He  demanded  my  heart,  and  I  supplicated  Him  to 
take  it.  He  did  so,  and  put  it  into  His  own  Adorable 
Heart,  in  which  He  allowed  me  to  see  it  as  a  little  atom 
being  consumed  in  that  fiery  furnace.  Then,  drawing 
it  out  like  a  burning  flame  in  the  form  of  a  heart,  He 
put  it  into  the  place  whence  He  had  taken  it,  saying: 
'  Behold,  My  beloved,  a  precious  proof  of  My  love.  I 
inclose  in  thy  heart  a  little  spark  of  the  most  ardent 
flame  of  My  love,  to  serve  thee  as  a  heart  and  to  con- 
sume thee  till  thy  last  moment.'  He  added:  '  Until  now 
thou  hast  taken  only  the  name  of  My  slave;  henceforth 
thou  shalt  be  called  the  well-beloved  disciple  of  My 
Sacred  Heart."'1 

One  can  easily  imagine  what  effect  might  be  produced 
by  such  a  favor  in  a  creature  already  wholly  inflamed 
with  divine  love.  "After  so  great  a  grace,"  said  she, 
"one  that  lasted  so  long  and  during  which  I  knew  not 
whether  I  was  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  I  remained  several 
days  wholly  inflamed,  wholly  inebriated.  I  was  so  out 
of  myself  that  it  was  only  by  doing  violence  to  myself  * 

1  Memoire,  p.  326. 


1 66  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

eould  utter  a  word.  I  was  obliged  to  make  so  great  an 
effort  to  eat  and  recreate  that  my  strength  was  exhausted 
in  ray  endeavor  to  endure  my  suffering."  1 

Again  was  she  led  to  Mother  Saumaise,  but  she  could 
scarcely  pronounce  one  word.  "  I  experienced,"  she 
said,  "  so  great  a  plenitude  of  God  that  I  was  not  able 
to  express  myself  to  my  Superioress  as  I  wished."  As 
to  her  Sisters,  she  experienced  only  one  temptation; 
namely,  to  throw  herself  at  their  feet  and  confess  to 
them  her  sins.  u  It  would  have  been  a  great  consolation 
to  me,"  she  says,  "  to  have  made  my  general  confession 
aloud  in  the  refectory,  that  my  Sisters  might  see  the 
depth  of  my  corruption;  for  then  they  would  attribute 
to  me  none  of  the  graces  I  received."  2 

Besides  this  sentiment  of  profound  humility,  the  first 
fruit  of  the  luminous  apparition,  a  sentiment  that  must 
necessarily  be  conceived  by  one  that  has  rested  on  the 
breast  of  the  Saviour  (for  astonishment,  admiration,  and 
love  create  humility),  Margaret  preserved  a  memento, 
or  rather  an  ineffaceable  mark,  of  divine  love.  She  did 
not  bear  it  visibly  on  her  breast,  like  St.  Francis  of  Assisi 
or  St.  Catharine  of  Siena,  but  all  her  life  she  retained 
an  invisible  wound  in  her  side.  "  The  pain  of  this 
wound,"  she  said,  "  is  so  precious  to  me,  causes  me 
transports  so  lively,  that  it  burns  me  alive,  it  consumes 
me."3  This  divine  memorial  did  not  grow  faint  with 
time,  for  the  Lord  renewed  it  every  first  Friday  of  the 
month,  and  again  showed  her  His  Heart.  "  The  Sacred 
Heart,"  she  said,  "is  shown  me  as  a  sun  brilliant  with 
sparkling  light,  whose  burning  rays  fall  direct  on  my 
heart.  I  then  feel  myself  inflamed  with  such  a  fire  that 
it  seems  about  to  reduce  me  to  ashes."  4 

Such  was  the  first  act  of  this  triple  revelation  of  the 
Sacred  Heart.  One  sees  as  yet  only  the  principle  and, 
as  it  were,  the  inspiration  of  this  new  devotion;  but  in 
what  touching  beauty  !     A  God  forgotten  by  men,  and 

1  Memoire,  p.  326.  2  lb.  b  lb.  p.  327.  4  lb. 


The  Revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart.     167 

unable  to  resign  Himself  to  such  forgetfulness;  despised 
by  man,  and  wishing  to  punish  him;  hearkening  to  His 
anger,  endeavoring  to  silence  the  voice  of  His  love,  and 
yet  not  succeeding;  unable  to  contain  within  Himself 
the  flames  of  His  ardent  charity,  and  yet  not  able  to 
chastise  His  ungrateful  creatures,  He  resolved  to  van- 
quish them  by  force  of  tenderness,  and  for  this  end 
daily  inventing  new  and  most  divine  contrivances  of  love! 
After  the  splendors  and  benefits  of  creation  came  the 
annihilations  of  the  crib.  The  crib  is  followed  by  the 
sorrows  of  the  Cross;  the  Cross,  by  the  Holy  Eucharist ! 
Is  there  anything  left?  Yes;  for  we  now  behold  the 
supreme  effort,  of  the  Sacred  Heart  !  It  is  always  the 
same  law.  Every  new  evidence  of  coldness  on  the  part 
of  man  causes  God  to  descend  a  degree  in  order  to 
touch  the  heart  from  which  He  cannot  succeed  in  detach- 
ing Himself. 

The  day  following  this  lively  and  ineffaceable  appari- 
tion, in  which  Margaret  Mary  had  learned  two  things, — 
the  first,  that  God  could  not  contain  in  His  Heart  the 
secrets  of  His  love;  the  second,  that  He  would  make 
use  of  her  to  reveal  them  to  the  world, — the  life  of  our 
saint  resumed  its  accustomed  course.  Very  nearly  six 
months  were  granted  her  to  recover  from  the  profound 
impression  just  received, — and  she  had  much  need  of 
them.  Six  months  of  peace,  recollection,  silence,  brill- 
iant progress  in  humility  and  the  love  of  God!  Ana 
now,  at  the  moment  she  least  expected,  comes  the 
second  revelation!  More  penetrating,  more  luminous 
than  the  first,  it  made  a  still  deeper  impression  on  her 
soul.  She  fell  ill  from  the  violent  emotion  it  caused;  so 
ill  that  all  thought  she  must  die. 

Second  Revelation. 
1674. 
This  second   revelation   is  the  only  one  of  which  we 
know  not  the   exact  date.     It   certainly  took   place  in 


1 68  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

1674,  before  the  arrival  at  Paray  of  Father  dela.  Colom- 
biere,  who  came  in  the  autumn  of  this  year.  As  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  was  exposed,  it  could  not  be,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  cf  the  times,  other  than  the  feast  of 
the  Visitation,  or  during  the  octave  of  Corpus  Christi. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  seems  to  follow  from  Margaret's 
account  that  it  was  on  Friday,  and  the  first  Friday  of 
the  month.  We  thirk,  therefore,  that  it  was  in  the  be- 
ginning of  June,  and  the  Friday  in  the  octave  of  Cor 
pus^Christi. 

Let  us  iiear  the  Sister's  recital:  "  Once  when  th£ 
Blessed  Sacrament  was  exposed,  my  soul  being  ab. 
sorbed  in  extraordinary  recollection,  Jesus  Christ,  my 
sweet  Master,  presented  Himself  to  me.  He  was  brill- 
iant with  glory;  His  five  wounds  shone  like  five  suns 
Flames  darted  forth  from  all  parts  of  His  sacred  hu- 
manity, but  especially  from  His  adorable  breast,  which 
resembled  a  furnace,  and  which,  opening,  displa3^ed  to 
me  His  loving  and  amiable  Heart,  the  living  source  of 
these  flames."  ' 

In  recounting  the  first  apparition,  Margaret  Mary  had 
not  described  the  adorable  person  of  the  Lord,  because, 
probably,  it  had  not  the  same  glorious  character  as  this 
one.  It  was  a  less  royal,  perhaps  a  more  intimate,  com- 
munication. "  He  made  me,"  she  says  in  speaking  of 
the  first,  "  rest  a  long  time  on  His  breast,"  which  it 
might  seem  would  agree  not  well  with  the  splendors, 
the  flames  that  enveloped  Jesus  in  the  second  appari- 
tion. However,  this  difference  in  form  corresponds  to 
the  difference  of  spirit  in  which  they  were  made.  Till 
that  hour  Jesus  was  the  Friend,  the  Father,  making  a 
tender  effort  to  save  His  children.  Now  He  is  the  out- 
raged Spouse,  the  unacknowledged  King  about  to  de- 
mand reparation.  Whilst  Margaret,  trembling  with 
emotion,  was  contemplating  Him,  "  He  unfolded  to  me," 
she  says,  "  the  inexplicable  wonders  of  His  pure  love, 

1  Memoire,  p.  327. 


The  Revelations  of^the  Sacred  Heart.      169 

« 
and  to  what  an  excess  He  had  carried  it  for  the  love  of 

men,  from  whom  He  had  received  only  ingratitude. 
'  This  is,'  He  said,  '  much  more  painful  to  Me  than  all  I 
suffered  in  My  Passion.  If  men  rendered  Me  some  re- 
turn of  love,  I  should  esteem  little  all  I  have  done  for 
them,  and  should  wish,  if  such  could  be,  to  suffer  it  over 
again;  but  they  meet  My  eager  love  with  coldness  and 
rebuffs.  Do  you,  at  least,'  said  He  in  conclusion,  '  con- 
sole and  rejoice  Me,  by  supplying  as  much  as  you  can 
for  their  ingratitude.'  "  1 

After  having  shown  in  the  first  revelation  the  true 
principle  of  the  new  devotion,  namely,  a  love  whose 
flames  He  could  no  longer  confine  in  His  Heart,  Jesus 
now  revealed  its  character.  This  devotion  would  be  an 
amende  honorable  and  an  expiation  for  all  the  crimes  of 
the  world,  a  consolation  for  His  forsaken  Heart.  He 
appealed  to  some  chosen  souls  to  come  and  supply  at 
the  foot  of  the  altars  for  those  that  do  not  love  Him; 
and,  by  their  love  and  adoration,  to  render  the  homage 
He  no  longer  receives  from  the  multitude  grown  cold 
and  indifferent.  "  Do  thou,  at  least,"  and  in  speaking 
thus  the  Lord  addressed  Himself  to  all  pious  souls, 
"give  Me  the  consolation  of  beholding  thee  supplying 
for  their  ingratitude,  as  far  as  thou  canst." 

Margaret  excused  herself  on  the  plea  of  incapacity. 
"Fear  not,"  said  Jesus;  "  behold,  here  is  wherewith  to 
furnish  all  that  is  wanting  to  thee."  "  And  at  that 
moment,"  continued  Margaret,  "  the  Divine  Heart  being 
opened,  there  shot  forth  a  flame  so  ardent  that  I  thought 
i  should  be  consumed  by  it."  Admirable  symbol  of 
what  this  new  devotion  was  going  to  become  in  the 
Church,  of  that  universal  re-warming  of  hearts  of  which 
we  shall  try  later  to  trace  the  consoling  picture! 

Thoroughly  penetrated  with  this  burning  flame,  and 
unable  longer  to  endure  the  fire,  Margaret  implored  our 
Saviour  to  have  pity  on  her  weakness.     "  Fear  nothing," 

1  M6moire,  p.  327. 


i.7°  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

said  He  to  her;  "  I  shall  be  thy  strength.  Listen  only 
to  what  I  desire  of  thee  to  prepare  thee  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  My  designs."  Then  the  Lord  asked  two 
things  of  her:  the  first,  to  communicate  every  first  Fri- 
day of  each  month  to  make  Him  the  amende  honorable; 
the  second,  to  rise  between  eleven  o'clock  and  midnight 
on  the  night  between  Thursday  and  Friday  of  every 
week,  and  to  prostrate  for  an  hour  with  her  face  to  the 
ground,  in  expiation  of  the  sins  of  men,  and  to  console 
His  Heart  for  that  general  desertion,  to  which  the  weak- 
ness of  the  apostles  in  the  Garden  of  Olives  had  been 
only  a  slight  prelude. 

"  During  all  this  time,"  says  Margaret  Mary,  "  I  was 
unconscious,  I  knew  not  where  I  was.  Some  of  the 
Sisters  came  to  take  me  away,  and,  seeing  that  I  could 
neither  reply  nor  support  myself  on  my  feet,  they  led 
me  to  our  Mother,  who  found  me  quite  out  of  myself, 
trembling  and  as  if  on  fire."  When  Margaret  Mary  told 
her  what  had  just  taken  place,  whether  she  believed  or 
not,  or  whether  she  feigned  not  to  believe  it,  Mother  de 
Saumaise  humbled  her  as  deeply  as  she  could — "  which 
gave  me  extreme  pleasure,  caused  me  inconceivable 
joy,"  says  Margaret  Mary;  "  for  I  felt  myself  such  a  crim- 
inal, I  was  filled  with  such  confusion,  that,  however 
rigorous  might  be  the  treatment  bestowed  upon  me,  it 
would  still  have  seemed  to  me  too  lenient."  x 

"  The  fire  that  devoured  me,"  continues  Margaret 
Mary  in  a  style  that  grows  eloquent  with  the  subject, 
"  brought  on  continual  fever;  but  I  rejoiced  too  much  in 
suffering  to  complain  of  it.  I  never  spoke  of  it  but 
when  my  strength  was  completely  gone.  Never  have  I 
felt  so  much  consolation.  My  whole  body  was  racked 
by  extreme  pain,  and  this  relieved  a  little  the  parching 
thirst  I  felt  to  suffer.  This  devouring  fire  could  neither 
be  fed  nor  satisfied  but  with  the  wood  of  the  cross; 
namely,  with  contempt  of  all  kinds,  humiliations,  and 

1  Memoire,  p.  328. 


The  Revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart.      1 7 1 

pains.  Never  was  my  bodily  suffering  equal  to  what  I 
experienced  from  not  suffering  enough.  The  Sisters 
thought  I  would  surely  die." 

Dr.  Billiet,  the  attendant  physician,  declared  that 
Saint  Margaret  Mary  had  sixty  consecutive  fevers 
that  resisted  every  remedy  employed  to  moderate  their 
ardor.  Mother  de  Saumaise,  very  much  perplexed,  at 
last  resorted  to  the  following  expedient.  She  ap- 
proached the  bed  of  the  apparently  dying  Sister,  and 
commanded  her  in  the  name  of  obedience  to  ask  her 
restoration  of  God,  adding  that  she  would  recognize  it 
as  a  sign  of  the  supernatural  character  of  all  that  had 
taken  place  in  her  regard.  She  would  then,  she  said, 
permit  her  to  make  the  Communion  of  the  first  Friday 
of  every  month,  and  the  hour's  prayer  during  the  night 
between  Thursday  and  Friday.  Margaret  experienced 
strong  repugnance  to  asking  a  termination  of  her  suf- 
ferings, fearing,  she  said,  "  to  be  heard."  But  at  the 
word  obedience,  she  no  longer  hesitated.  Scarcely  had 
she  uttered  a  short  prayer  before  her  fever  fell,  her 
pulse  beat  less  rapidly,  and  the  astonished  physician 
pronounced  her  cured.  There  was,  however,  little  need 
for  the  doctor  to  make  this  assertion,  for  the  saint 
arose;  and  from  that  day  the  Sisters  remarked  a  total 
change  in  her  health.  Mother  de  Saumaise  did  not  re- 
sist the  voice  of  God.  She  granted  Margaret  Mary  the 
permission  to  communicate  the  first  Friday  of  the 
month,  and  for  the  future  to  rise  on  the  night  between 
Thursday  and  Friday. 

Meanwhile  Mother  de  Saumaise  became  more  and 
more  embarrassed.  This  cure,  which  looked  like  a 
miracle  and  which  perhaps  was  one,  caused  her  to 
reflect  most  seriously  on  the  propriety  of  acknowl- 
edging the  incontestable  sanctity  of  Sister  Margaret. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  Margaret  was  very  young, 
hardly  six-and-twenty,  and  counted  but  two  years  of 
religious  life.     The  visions  that  she  related  were,  more- 


I72  -Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

over,  very  extraordinary.  Was  not  some  illusion  to  be 
feared  ?  Finally,  Mother  de  Saumaise  resolved  to  con- 
sult others;  and  breaking  silence  for  the  first  time,  she 
conferred  on  the  subject  with  some  religious  whose 
names  we  do  not  know — "  learned  people,"  say  our 
old  Memoires.  But  whether  Margaret,  so  timid  and  so 
humble,  was  herself  not  understood,  or  whether  the 
advisers  of  Mother  de  Saumaise  entertained  certain 
prejudices  on  the  score  of  supernatural  manifestations, 
a  thing  not  unfrequent  even  among  priests  and  pious 
religious,  her  conferences  led  to  the  conclusion  that  in 
Margaret  Mary's  case  there  was  much  imagination,  a 
little  natural  temperament,  and  perhaps  even  some  illu- 
sion of  the  evil  spirit,  so  skilfully  disguised  that  the 
good  Sister  could  not  perceive  it. 

The  perplexity  of  Margaret's  judges  was  thus  increased 
instead  of  diminished.  Condemned  by  her  Superiors 
and  confessors,  the  poor  Sister  knew  not  which  way  to 
turn.  "  I  made,"  said  she,  "  every  effort  to  resist  my 
interior  attractions,  believing  that  I  was  assuredly  in 
error.  But  I  could  not  succeed.  I  no  longer  doubted 
that  I  was  abandoned,  since  I  was  told  that  it  was  not 
the  Spirit  of  God  that  governed  me;  and  yet  it  was 
impossible  for  me  to  resist  the  Spirit  that  moved  me."1 
One  day,  when  drooping  under  the  weight  of  this  con- 
tinued anxiety,  and  pouring  out  her  plaintive  wail  at 
the  feet  of  her  Lord,  she  seemed  to  hear  a  voice  saying 
to  her:  "  Have  patience,  and  await  My  servant."  She 
knew  not  what  the  words  meant,  but  they  poured  a  little 
balm  into  her  soul,  and  she  felt  that  God  would  come 
to  her  assistance  in  His  own  good  time.2 

Things  were  in  this  state  when  Mother  de  Saumaise 
announced  to  her  Community  one  day  that  a  pious  con- 
ference would  be  given  them  by  a  religious  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus  who  had  just  arrived  at  Paray,  and  who  had  the 
reputation  of  speaking  eloquently  of  the  things  of  God. 
1  Contemp.,  p.  81.  9  Memoire,  p.  345. 


The  Revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart.      1 73 

His  name  was  Father  de  la  Colombiere.  We  are  aston- 
ished that  a  man  who,  in  spite  of  his  youth,  was  already 
so  celebrated,  and  who  from  his  entrance  into  the 
Society  had  given  promise  of  attaining  high  renown, 
should  be  sent  to  so  small  a  place  as  Paray.  We  read 
in  the  sequel  the  divine  purpose  of  this  sending.  Father 
de  la  Colombiere  came  in  time  for  the  greatest  perplex- 
ities (for  it  was  very  likely  the  morrow  of  the  second 
revelation,  so  badly  understood  by  "  the  learned  people" 
of  Paray,  and  the  eve  of  the  third  and  last,  the  most 
important  of  all).  He  was  going,  in  few  words,  to  evoke 
light  in  the  midst  of  darkness. 

Sister  Margaret  Mary  went  with  the  other  Sisters  to 
the  conference,  Father  de  la  Colombiere's  name  not 
having  made  upon  her  the  slightest  impression.  But 
he  had  hardly  opened  his  lips  when  she  distinctly  heard 
these  words:  "  Behold  him  whom  I  send  to  thee." 
Accustomed  to  await  God's  moments  without  antici- 
pating them,  scarcely  had  she  rested  her  eyes  on  the 
Father  when  she  remitted  to  God,  who  had  sent  him, 
the  care  of  making  her  known  to  him. 

The  Ember  days  came.  Father  de  la  Colombiere 
having  been  deputed  to  hear  the  confessions  of  the 
Community,  Margaret  Mary  remarked  that,  although 
he  had  never  seen  her,  yet  he  spoke  as  if  he  knew  what 
was  passing  in  her  soul.  He  detained  her  a  long  time, 
and  even  offered  to  see  her  again  the  next  day,  in  order 
to  receive  a  thorough  manifestation  of  her  interior  state. 
These  advances  could  not  come  more  opportunely. 
But  Margaret  did  not  wish  to  open  her  heart  to  him; 
ind  as  to  the  second  proposition,  she  replied  humbly 
and  timidly  that  she  would  do  what  obedience  ordered 
her. 

Very  probably  it  was  the  venerable  Mother  de  Sau- 
maise  who  had  spoken  to  Father  de  la  Colombiere  of 
Margaret's  state,  that  she  might  be  able  to  add  the  opin- 
ion and  advice  of  a  pious  and  eloquent  man  to  those 


174  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoqu?. 

that  she  already  had:  though  perhaps  it  was  God  Him> 
self  who  had  thus  enlightened  His  servant,  that  He  might 
extend  to  His  faithful  spouse  the  direction  of  which  she 
had  so  great  need.  Be  this  as  it  may,  a  few  days  later 
the  Father  returned  and  asked  for  Sister  Margaret 
Mary.  "  Although  I  knew,"  said  she,  "  that  it  was  the 
will  of  God  for  me  to  speak  to  him,  yet  I  felt  extreme 
repugnance  to  answering  his  summons."  Her  repug- 
nance, however,  lasted  but  a  moment.  Gained  by  the 
piety  and  sweetness  of  the  holy  religious,  and  interiorly 
excited  by  grace,  Margaret  Mary  confided  to  him  the 
secrets  of  her  heart.  The  interview  was  long,  and  Sister 
Margaret  Mary  came  forth  from  it  enlightened  and  con- 
soled. "  He  assured  me,"  she  said,  "  that  there  was 
nothing  to  be  feared  in  the  guidance  of  this  Spirit,  inas- 
much as  it  did  not  withdraw  me  from  obedience;  that  I 
ought  to  follow  its  movements,  and  abandon  my  whole 
being  to  it,  to  be  sacrificed  and  immolated  according  to 
its  good  pleasure.  He  admired  the  great  goodness  of 
our  God  in  not  withdrawing  His  favors  in  the  face  of  so 
much  resistance,  taught  me  to  esteem  the  gifts  of  God, 
and  to  receive  with  respect  and  humility  the  frequent 
communications  and  familiar  entertainments  with  which 
He  favored  me.  The  Father  added  that  my  thanks- 
giving for  so  great  goodness  ought  to  be  continual. 
When  I  had  told  him  that  my  soul  was  pursued  so 
closely  by  the  Sovereign  Goodness  without  regard  to 
time  or  place,  that  I  could  not  pray  vocally  without 
doing  myself  violence  so  great  that  I  sometimes  re- 
mained with  my  mouth  open  unable  to  pronounce  a 
word,  and  that  this  happened  particularly  whilst  saying 
the  Rosary,  he  told  me  to  make  such  efforts  no  more, 
and  to  confine  myself  to  my  vocal  prayers  of  obligation. 
When  I  told  him  something  of  the  special  caresses  and 
loving  union  of  soul  I  received  from  my  Well-beloved, 
and  which  I  cannot  describe  here,  he  replied  that  I  had 


The  Revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart.      175 

great  reason  to  humble  myself,  and  to  admire  with  him 
the  wonderful  mercy  of  God  in  my  regard."  1 

We  have  quoted  this  entire  page,  because  in  very 
brief  form  it  contains  true  light.  There  is  something 
elevated,  sensible,  sweet,  and  pious  in  it.  It  is,  besides, 
the  great  word  of  Father  de  la  Colombiere.  He  did, 
undoubtedly,  utter  many  others.  He  preached  long,  he 
made  known  God's  truth  in  France  and  England.  But, 
notwithstanding  all  this,  he  was  most  probably  created, 
led  from  afar,  divinely  prepared  by  a  chain  of  hidden 
marvels  expressly  to  speak  this  word.  That  done,  he 
retires,  his  mission  finished.  He  had  played  his  part. 
Assuredly  there  is  none  either  more  glorious  or  more 
useful;  for  in  enlightening  one  such  soul  he  has  enlight- 
ened millions.  He  contributed  largely  to  the  good  of 
the  Church  by  giving  her  bark  tossed  by  a  frightful 
tempest  the  stroke  of  the  oar  that  was  to  enable  her  to 
clear  rugged  obstacles.  But  Father  de  la  Colombiere 
did  not  retire  and  leave  his  work  unfinished.  We  shall 
see  him  again  at  the  decisive  moment  of  the  third  reve- 
lation, when  he  will  once  more  sustain  and  enlighten 
the  Sister.  He  will  study  seriously  this  last  and  highest 
manifestation  of  God's  will,  after  which  he  will  be  the 
first  to  prostrate  with  our  saint  and  consecrate  himself 
to  the  Sacred  Heart. 

Third  and  Last  Revelation. 

June  16,  1675. 

It  was  on  June  16,  1675,  that  the  last  of  the  grand  reve- 
lations relative  to  the  Sacred  Heart  took  place.  It  was 
to  close  the  cycle  of  those  solemn  disclosures.  Until  then 
the  humble  virgin  had  received  from  the  Lord  only  per- 
sonal favors,  very  like  those  with  which  other  holy  souls 
had  already  been  favored.  He  had  only  demanded  of 
her  some  individual  practices  of  devotion.     Now,  how- 

1  Memoire.  p.  346. 


176  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

ever,  the  hour  was  come  for  Him  to  invest  her  with  her 
grand,  public  mission. 

During  the  octave  of  the  feast  of  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment, June  16,  1675,  Margaret  Mary  was  on  her  knees 
before  the  choir-grate,  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  tabernacle. 
She  had  just  received  "  some  of  the  unmeasured  graces 
of  His  love."  We  have  no  particulars  of  these  graces. 
Suddenly  the  Lord  appeared  on  the  altar  and  discovered 
to  her  His  Heart. 

"  Behold,"  said  He  to  her,  "this  Heart  which  has  so 
loved  men  that  it  has  spared  nothing,  even  to  exhaust- 
ing and  consuming  itself,  in  order  to  testify  its  love. 
In  return,  I  receive  from  the  greater  part  only  ingrat- 
itude, by  their  irreverence  and  sacrilege,  and  by  the 
coldness  and  contempt  they  have  for  Me  in  this  sacra- 
ment of  love.  And  what  is  most  painful  to  Me," 
added  the  Saviour,  in  a  tone  that  went  to  the  Sis- 
ter's heart,  "  is  that  they  are  hearts  consecrated  to  Me." 
Then  He  commanded  her  to  have  established  in  the 
Church  a  particular  feast  to  honor  His  Sacred  Heart. 
"  It  is  for  this  reason  I  ask  thee  that  the  first  Friday 
after  the  octave  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  be  appro- 
priated to  a  special  feast,  to  honor  My  Heart  by  com- 
municating on  that  day,  and  making  reparation  for 
the  indignity  that  it  has  received.  And  I  promise  that 
My  Heart  shall  dilate  to  pour  out  abundantly  the  in- 
fluences of  its  love  on  all  that  will  render  it  this  honor 
or  procure  its  being  rendered."1 

This  was  the  last  revelation,  and  the  most  celebrated 
of  all.  Justly  the  most  celebrated,  for  all  that  regards 
the  Divine  Heart  of  Jesus  is  contained  in  it.  Its  prin- 
ciple is  no  other  than  the  overflowing  love  of  God,  love 
making  a  grand  effort  to  overcome  evil;  its  end,  to  be- 
come a  public  devotion,  having  been  so  long  a  private 
one;  and,  lastly,  its  effects,  a  new  effusion  of  divine  love 
1  Memoirev  p.  355. 


The  Revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart,      177 

on  the  Church,  and  more  particularly  on  the  pious  souls 
that  become  its  apostles  and  propagators. 

But  whether  the  Lord,  to  leave  her  the  full  use  of  her 
natural  faculties  at  a  moment  so  serious,  had  concealed 
a  little  the  splendor  of  His  divine  presence,  or  whether 
Margaret  Mary,  reassured  by  Father  de  la  Colombiere, 
had  banished  all  fear  and  abandoned  her  soul  entirely 
to  the  happiness  of  contemplating  her  Divine  Master, 
we  do  not  know.  But  at  the  close  of  this  third  revela- 
tion no  trace  of  the  violent  emotion  that  had  followed 
the  first  two  was  perceived.  The  humble  virgin  is 
recollected,  attentive,  happy.  Although  astonished  at 
such  a  mission,  (for  who  was  she  to  establish  a  feast  in 
the  Church,  she  who  could  not  succeed  in  convincing 
her  Superiors?)  but  one  word  escaped  her:  "Lord,  how 
can  I  ?"  To  which  the  Lord  answered  by  telling  her  to 
address  herself  to  that  servant  of  God  who  had  been 
sent  to  her  "  expressly  for  the  accomplishment  of  this 
design."  ' 

Margaret  Mary  did,  indeed,  recur  to  Father  de  la 
Colombiere,  and  confide  to  him  this  third  revelation. 
The  venerable  priest  asked  for  a  written  account  of  it, 
that  he  might  be  able  to  study  it  at  leisure.  We  shall 
see  later  on  with  what  religious  respect  he  preserved 
the  document.  He  examined  the  revelation  attentively 
before  God,  and,  enlightened  from  on  high,  declared  to 
Margaret  that  she  could  rely  on  it,  for  without  doubt  it 
came  from  Heaven.  Thus  reassured,  Margaret  Mary 
no  longer  hesitated.  She  knelt  before  the  Divine  Heart 
of  Jesus,  solemnly  consecrated  herself  to  it,  and  thus  ren- 
dered it  the  first  and  one  of  the  purest  acts  of  homage 
that  it  was  ever  to  receive  on  earth  or  in  heaven.  Father 
de  la  Colombiere,  wishing  to  unite  with  her,  also  con- 
secrated himself  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  It  was  Friday, 
June  21st,  the  day  after  the  octave  of  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment; the  day  that  had  been  designated  by  the  Lord  to 

1  Memoire,  p.  355. 


178  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

be  forever  the  feast-day  of  His  Adorable  Heart.  Thus 
He  received,  in  the  person  of  a  holy  priest  and  of  an 
humble  virgin,  the  first-fruits  of  those  acts  of  adoration 
soon  to  be  rendered  Him  by  all  mankind. 

Thus  ended  this  glorious  drama,  at  the  same  time 
three  and  one,  of  the  revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 
Thus  was  successively  developed,  in  profound  and  mys- 
terious order,  that  incomparable  vision  vouchsafed  to  one 
of  the  most  humble  of  virgins.  And  that  which  in  silence 
and  ecstasy  she  had  three  times  consecutively  beheld  in 
that  chapel,  through  that  grate,  on  that  altar,  the  Church 
also  was  going  to  see.  She  examined  this  testimony, 
this  recital,  forced  by  obedience  from  the  saint's  touch- 
ing modesty;  she  declared  them  true  and  authentic; 
and,  following  the  example  of  the  humble  virgin,  she 
prostrated  before  the  Sacred  Heart. 

What  the  Lord  asked  has  been  done.  The  faithful 
flock  from  all  quarters  on  the  first  Friday  of  every 
month  to  kneel  before  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  and 
to  make  reparation  for  the  incomprehensible  ingratitude 
of  creatures  whom  He  has  passionately  loved.  In  every 
region,  also,  are  found  Christians — wives,  mothers, 
younggirls,  priests  and  virgins  consecrated  to  God — who 
rise  in  the  night  between  Thursday  and  Friday,  who 
come  to  watch  with  Him,  to  weep  with  Him,  and  some- 
times even  to  impress  on  their  flesh  the  sacred  marks 
of  His  Passion.  Everywhere,  in  fine,  throughout  the 
Catholic  Church,  the  Friday  following  the  octave  of  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  is  a  solemnity  consecrated  to  the 
contemplation  of  the  tenderness,  the  devotedness  of  the 
best  of  all  hearts. 

But  let  us  continue  our  recital.  As  yet  only  one  part 
of  our  Saviour's  will  on  this  august  subject  is  known  to 
us.  We  shall  see  others  appear,  and  we  shall  behold 
their  realization.  Time  is  undoubtedly  necessary.  It 
is  necessary  also  to  the  sun  on  a  hazy  autumn  day  for 
it   to    pierce    the    fog  that   obscures    the    horizon;  but 


The  Revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart.     1 79 

though  slow  to  appear,  its  sweet  light  is  none  the  less 
loved  or  desired.  So  it  is,  likewise,  with  the  Adorable 
Heart  of  Jesus  in  our  own  sad  times.  It  is  but  two 
centuries  since  it  appeared  on  the  horizon.  Let  us  not 
complain.  Already  the  greater  part  of  the  clouds  are 
dissipated.  The  hour  is  approaching  in  which  it  will 
illumine  the  heavens  and  rejuvenate  the  earth. 


8o  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER   X. 

ALMIGHTY   GOD    PREPARES    THE   CONVENT   OF   PARAY 
TO   BECOME  THE   SANCTUARY   OF   THE   SACRED 

HEART. 

1675-1678. 

"  Sanctificamini ;  eras  enim  faciet  Dominus  inter  vos  mirabilia." 
"  Be  ye  sanctified,  for  to-morrow  the  Lord  will  do  wonders  among 
you." — Josue  iii.  5. 

ng)EHOLD  Margaret  Mary  invested  with  a  mission 
^D  the  most  formidable!  She  who  shut  herself  up 
in  a  cloister  as  in  a  tomb,  to  flee  forever  from 
the  eyes  of  men;  who  so  carefully  hid  herself  therein, 
was  now  commissioned  to  address  the  whole  world,  to 
turn  all  eyes  toward  the  Divine  Heart  of  Jesus,  hitherto 
known  only  to  some  chosen  souls.  She  was  even  to 
petition  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  for  a  new  feast  to  be  in- 
scribed on  the  cycle  of  the  Christian  year. 

To  accomplish  such  a  mission,  what  support  had 
God  prepared  for  her  ?  There  was  at  Meaux  a  bishop 
who  had  reached  the  pinnacle  of  glory.  He  was  Mar- 
garet's countryman.  Had  he  learned  from  her  the 
mysteries  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  he  would  have  taught 
them  to  the  world  with  such  brilliancy  of  genius,  with 
common-sense  so  good,  that  he  would  in  advance  have 
overthrown  the  stupid  objections  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  At  Cambray,  not  far  from  Meaux,  was  an- 
other bishop  who,  though  lacking  the  genius  of  Bossuet, 
had,  by  the  tenderness  of  his  soul,  the  purity  of  his 
heart,  the  noble  elevation  of  his  affections,  admirably 
inculcated  this  doctrine  of  love  so  suited  to  charm 
a  heart  like  his  own.     Again,  there  was  at  Paris  an  old 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       1 8 1 

man  who,  like  St.  John,  died  exhausted  by  the  ardor  of 
his  charity.  He  knew  nothing  better  in  his  green  old 
age  than  to  repeat  the  words  of  the  Prophet  of  Patmos: 
"My  little  children,  love  one  another."  This  was  St. 
Vincent  of  Paul,  a  worthy  apostle  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 
In  exhaling  this  charming  devotion  with  his  last  sigh, 
he  rendered  it  forever  venerable.  St.  Vincent  had  had 
in  his  school  two  young  priests,  M.  Olier  and  Father  de 
Condren,  to  whom  God  had  confided  the  great  mission 
of  reanimating  the  hearts  of  the  clergy  and  rekindling 
charity  in  the  breasts  of  those  who  were  to  be  the 
apostles  and  missionaries  of  the  devotion.  It  would 
seem  that,  if  they  themselves  had  added  this  light  to 
their  sublime  ideas  on  the  priesthood,  they  would  have 
found  in  it  strength  invincible,  and  it  would  have  added 
another  charm  to  their  grand  life-work. 

But  by  one  of  those  inscrutable  designs  of  Divine 
Providence,  met  at  every  step  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  in  which  we  see  God  making  it  a  delight  to 
triumph  in  weakness,  not  one  of  those  illustrious  stars 
rose  upon  the  horizon  of  Margaret  Mary's  humble 
sphere.  The  only  man,  one  not  illustrious,  though 
pious  and  eloquent,  who  appeared  for  one  instant  at 
Paray,  departed  almost  as  soon  as  he  came,  as  if  God 
had  sent  him  only  to  calm  Margaret  Mary's  anxiety 
and  then  abandon  her  to  her  own  weakness. 

Shortly  after  the  sublime  revelation  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  Father  de  la  Colombiere  received  orders  to  go 
to  England  as  almoner  to  the  Duchess  of  York,  Marie 
de  Modena,  a  Catholic  princess  espoused  to  the  heir, 
presumptive  of  the  crown  of  England.  The  holy  priest 
set  out  in  haste;  not,  however,  before  he  wrote  a  word 
to  Margaret,  recommending  her  to  abandon  herself  to 
God  and  to  the  practice  of  holy  humility.  In  answer 
he  received  a  prophetic  line,  in  which  she  stimulated 
him  to  courage  in  the  midst  of  difficulties,  meekness 
toward  his  future    enemies,   and    humility    in    success 


1 82  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Such  were  the  words  of  their  adieux.  The  saint  now 
found  herself  alone  in  the  face  of  her  perilous  mission. 
For  a  moment  she  was  alarmed  and  troubled;  but,  calm- 
ing her  fears,  she  retired  into  the  depths  of  her  soul, 
and  heard  a  voice  saying  to  her:  "  Will  not  God  suffice 
for  thee?"1 

It  might  seem  that  an  hour  more  badly  chosen  could 
not  be  found  in  which  to  take  from  Margaret  Mary  the 
enlightened  guide  so  lately  given.  The  time  was  ap- 
proaching in  which,  called  to  proclaim  to  the  world  the 
ineffable  mysteries  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  she  was  to 
learn  them  herself  by  bitter  experience.  The  Heart 
of  Jesus,  crowned  with  thorns  and  pierced  with  a 
lance,  was  about  to  impress  upon  her  its  own  living 
image.  We  recall  with  what  delight  God  inundated 
her  soul  during  her  novitiate  and  on  the  day  of  her 
profession;  delights  tempered,  however,  with  the 
assurance  of  a  future  cross  that,  without  special  help 
from  God,  she  would  be  unable  to  support.  Far  from 
shrinking  from  it,  Margaret  had  never  ceased  to  plead 
for  it.  It  came  at  last.  She  was  by  it  to  be  made 
worthy  of  Him  who  had  promised  it,  of  Him  from 
whom  she  had  so  earnestly  petitioned  it. 

Physical  sufferings  were  the  first  intimation  of  its 
presence.  The  little  health  she  had,  vanished.  She 
could  but  languish  in  her  misery;  and  some  strange 
attendant  circumstances  threw  around  her  state  of 
suffering  an  air  of  mystery.  One  morning,  when  draw- 
ing water  from  the  well  in  the  middle  of  the  yard,  the 
Ducket,  after  being  filled,  slipped  from  her  hands  and 
fell  with  velocity  proportioned  to  its  weight.  At  the 
same  time,  the  long  iron  handle  that  served  to  raise  it 
swung  violently  round  and  round,  and  struck  Margaret 
on  the  head.  She  fell  to  the  ground,  several  of  her 
teeth  knocked  out,  her  gums  cut  and  bleeding.  Her 
sisters  ran  to  raise   her,  bruised  and  livid,  covered  with 

1  Memoire,  p.  356. 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart,       183 

blood,  but  smiling  through  it  all.  The  terrible  pain 
consequent  upon  this  accident  threw  light  upon  a  vision 
she  had  had  a  short  time  before.  The  Sacred  Host  had 
appeared  to  her  resplendent  as  the  sun,  and  in  the 
centre  of  that  glory  was  Our  Lord  holding  a  crown  of 
thorns  in  His  hand.  He  laid  the  crown  on  Margaret's 
head  with  the  words:  "  My  daughter,  receive  this  crown 
as  a  sign  of  that  which  shall  soon  be  given  thee  to 
render  thee  conformed  to  Me."  And,  in  truth,  from 
that  day  Margaret's  forehead  was  encircled  with  a  band 
of  fire.  She  could  rest  her  head  not  even  on  her  pillow. 
But  she  made  no  complaint.  Courageously  and  joy- 
ously she  endured  this  conformity  with  her  thorn- 
crowned  Spouse.  "  I  confess,"  she  said,  "  that  I  am 
more  grateful  to  my  Sovereign  Master  for  this  precious 
crown  than  if  He  had  presented  me  the  diamonds  of 
the  greatest  monarchs  of  the  world;  and  this  so  much 
the  more,  as  no  one  can  take  it  from  me.  Of  necessity, 
it  often  affords  me  long  hours  of  wakefulness  in  which 
to  converse  with  the  only  Object  of  my  love;  for,  like 
my  good  Master,  who  could  not  rest  His  adorable  head 
on  the  bed  of  the  cross,  I  am  unable  to  rest  mine  on 
my  pillow." 

Margaret,  at  the  same  time,  felt  greatly  increase  that 
mysterious  thirst  from  which  she  had  already  suffered, 
and  which  nothing  could  assuage.  It  was  caused  either 
by  the  fire  that  consumed  and  dried  up  her  blood,  or  by 
God's  desire  to  give  her  this  new  resemblance  to  her 
crucified  Lord.  Obedience  alone  could  prevail  on  her 
to  take  some  relief.  "  Reflecting,"  says  Mother  de 
Levis-Chateaumorand,  "  that  Jesus'  last  suffering  on  the 
cross  was  a  burning  thirst,  Margaret  resolved  to  abstain 
from  drinking  anything  from  Thursday  till  Saturday  of 
every  week.  At  another  time,  she  passed  fifty  days 
without  taking  any  liquid;  and  when,  by  orders  of 
Superiors,  she  was  obliged   to  refresh  herself  a  little, 


184  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoyue. 

water,  tepid  and  most  disagreeable,  was,  she  said,  much 
too  good  for  her."  ' 

Let  us  not  forget,  in  this  enumeration  of  Margaret's 
sufferings,  that  invisible  wound  received  at  the  first  of 
the  three  grand  revelations.  Our  Lord  having  darted 
to  the  heart  of  His  servant  "  a  little  spark  of  the  most 
active  flames  of  His  Heart,"  she  felt  a  mysterious  pain 
in  her  side,  which  increased  on  the  first  Friday  of 
every  month.  "  This  wound,"  Margaret  tells  us, 
"whose  pain  is  so  precious  to  me,  causes  me  suffering 
so  intense  that  it  consumes  me,  burns  me  alive."  2 

But  this  was  not  all.  After  giving  her  His  crown  of 
thorns,  after  having  communicated  to  her  something  of 
the  thirst  He  endured  in  His  agony,  and  some  portion 
also  of  the  sacred  wound  of  His  side,  Jesus  put  the 
finishing  stroke  to  His  work  by  appearing  to  her  with  a 
cross  in  His  hand.  He  said:  "  Receive,  my  daughter, 
the  cross  I  give  thee.  Plant  it  in  thy  heart.  It  will 
cause  thee  to  experience  the  most  cruel  torments,  mys- 
terious and  continued."  From  that  day  Margaret  be- 
came, in  fact,  a  compound  of  suffering  that  made  her 
an  object  of  pity,  a  living  image  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus, 
wounded,  bleeding,  and  crowned  with  thorns.  "  In 
truth,"  said  a  holy  bishop,  "  neither  her  feet,  hands,  nor 
side  have  received  the  visible  marks  of  her  Saviour's 
wounds,  and  never  was  she  favored  with  those  miracu- 
lous stigmata  that  glorified  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  and 
many  other  saints.  But  her  conformity  with  the  Divine 
Master,  though  more  hidden,  was  not  less  real."3  She 
endured  a  band  of  fire  around  her  head;  a  thirst  that 
nothing  could  assuage;  a  pain  in  the  side  from  the 
stroke  of  a  lance;  and  a  cross  so  heavy,  so  crushing  in 
its  weight,  that  sometimes,  in  spite  of  her  energy  and 

1  Process  of  1715,  Deposition  of  Mother  de  Levis-Chateaumorand. 

2  Memoire,  p.  326. 

8  Pastoral  of  Mgr.  de  Marguerie,  Bishop  of  Autun,  for  the  Beatifica- 
tion of  Saint    Margaret  Mary,  p.  19.     Autun,  1865. 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       185 

her  avidity  for  suffering,  she  was  tempted  to  lay  it 
down.  But  at  such  moments  the  Lord  interposed  by 
stretching  Himself  upon  it.  One  day,  for  instance,  that 
she  was  ill  and  wished  to  relieve  herself  by  changing 
her  position  from  one  side  to  the  other,  He  appeared  to 
her  and,  in  ineffable  accents,  said:  "When  I  was  carry- 
ing My  cross,  I  did  not  change  it  from  side  to  side." 

God  thus  accomplished  in  His  servant  what  He  had 
promised  when,  at  the  beginning  of  her  novitiate,  she 
placed  herself  at  His  feet  like  a  piece  of  canvas  and  He 
had  engaged  to  delineate  in  her  the  features  of  His 
Buffering  life.  "  Like  Veronica's  veil,"  continues  the 
holy  bishop  just  quoted,  "  Margaret  Mary  received  the 
impress  of  Jesus'  features  bruised  and  humbled."  ! 
This  was  necessary;  for  there  is  no  perfection,  even 
human,  no  intellectual  pre-eminence,  no  moral  grandeur, 
and,  with  still  greater  reason,  no  sanctity,  apart  from 
Buffering.  But  above  all  was  it  necessary  for  Margaret 
Mary  on  account  of  the  mission  confided  to  her.  How 
would  she  be  able  to  understand  the  Heart  of  Jesus, 
that  furnace  of  immolation  and  sacrifice  by  love;  how 
would  she  be  able  to  speak  of  it  to  the  world,  had  she 
not  begun  to  make  of  her  own  heart  a  furnace  of  love 
And,  consequently,  of  immolation  and  sorrow  ? 

Although  God  assisted  her  by  multiplied  trials,  by 
sacrifices  and  tribulations  that,  far  from  ceasing,  were 
ever  on  the  increase,  it  was  wholly  insufficient  to  satisfy 
her  desire  to  love,  to  suffer,  and  to  die.  "  From  her 
ardent  love  for  Jesus  Christ,"  says  Mother  de  Levis- 
Chateaumorand,  "  proceeded  that  other  for  contempt 
and  sufferings,  which  she  called  her  daily  bread.  And 
although  God  acted  liberally  toward  her  on  this  point, 
she  was  never  satisfied,  but  always  hungering.  She 
was  never  sufficiently  humbled,  never  sufficiently 
crushed.  A  day  without  this  food  was  to  her  a  day  of 
1  Pastoral  of  Mgr.  de  Marguerie,  p.  16. 


1 86  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  A  lacoqite. 

special  suffering.  Had  not  obedience  stayed  her,  she 
would  have  fallen  into  excesses."  1 

"  Margaret's  love  for  pain  and  suffering,"  say  her 
contemporaries,  "  was  insatiable.  With  St.  Teresa,  she 
desired  to  suffer  or  to  die.  She  declared  that  she  would 
willingly  live  till  the  day  of  judgment,  provided  she 
might  always  have  something  to  suffer  for  God;  but 
that  to  live  a  single  day  without  suffering  would  be  in- 
tolerable to  her."  2  Again,  she  said  that  she  was  "  de- 
voured by  two  insatiable  fevers:  one  for  holy  Com- 
munion, in  which  she  received  the  God  of  her  heart  and 
the  Heart  of  her  God;  the  other  for  suffering,  contempt, 
and  humiliation."3 

Whilst  these  things  were  going  on  in  the  soul  of 
Saint  Margaret  Mary,  others  were  being  prepared  for 
her  in  the  interior  of  the  convent,  and  they  were  to 
furnish  ample  food  for  that  hunger  after  immolation 
which  tormented  her.  To  her  Sisters  her  life  became 
more  and  more  of  an  enigma.  They  understood  nothing. 
Instead  of  dissipating,  the  clouds  that  overshadowed 
their  mind  grew  heavier;  and  Margaret  found  around 
her  only  doubts,  suspicion,  contradictions.  Let  us  note 
well  what,  in  1675,  our  humble  Margaret  was  to  her 
Sisters,  the  religious  of  Paray.  God  had  just  conferred 
on  her  an  admirable  mission,  and  an  inestimable  honor, 
in  making  her  the  confidant  of  the  anguish  and  suffer- 
ings of  His  Sacred  Heart;  but  the  Sisters  knew  nothing 
of  it.  Not  one  word  from  Father  de  la  Colombiere, 
Mother  de  Saumaise,  nor,  for  still  greater  reason,  from 
Margaret  herself,  betrayed  the  secret.  The  Sisters 
knew  of  her  only  what  they  saw;  that  is,  hours  of  prayer 
prolonged  beyond  those  of  the  Community;  rising  in  the 
night,  permitted,  undoubtedly,  by  the  Superioress,  but 
extraordinary  in  the  Visitation;  customs  that  seemed 
singular,  as  that  of  working  on  her  knees,  or  others  that 

1  Process  of  171 5,  Deposition  of  Mother  de  Levis-Chateaumorand. 
2Contemp.,  p.  141.  3  lb. 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.       187 

astonished  without  giving  light,  as  the  fainting  or 
swooning  that  took  place  in  the  choir,  and  necessitated 
her  being  carried  out  by  the  Sisters;  and,  in  fine,  what 
appeared  yet  more  serious,  frequent  conferences  with 
the  Superioress,  with  Father  de  la  Colombiere,  and  with 
extraordinary  confessors.  Though  not  desiring  such 
interviews,  Margaret  Mary  was  obliged  to  hold  them. 
All  this  was  to  the  Sisters  inexplicable,  and  very  natu^ 
rally  brought  to  their  lips  such  remarks  as  these:  "  Why 
does  our  dear  Sister  do  nothing  like  anyone  else?  Why 
ambition  such  singularities  ?" 

To  all  this  must  be  added  the  strange  absorption  of 
which  we  have  spoken,  which  increased  every  day  and 
rendered  Margaret  Mary  more  and  more  incapable  of 
special  duties.  Her  Superioress  had  tried  her  skill  as 
infirmarian,  but  without  marked  success,  although  her 
goodness,  zeal,  and  devotedness  were  there  displayed  to 
all,  and  her  charity  found  vent  in  such  acts  of  heroism 
that  our  readers  could  not  endure  the  relation  of  them. 
She  had  been  tried  in  the  kitchen,  but  tha*  proved  even 
a  greater  failure,  for  the  dishes  fell  from  her  hands. 
The  admirable  humility  with  which  she  repaired  her 
awkwardness  did  not  prevent  such  accidents  from  being 
very  prejudicial  to  the  order  and  regularity  that  ought 
to  reign  in  a  Community.  She  was  next  placed  in  the 
boarding-school.  There  she  was  loved  by  the  little  girls, 
who,  venerating  her  as  a  saint,  even  clipped  off  pieces  of 
her  habit.  But  her  preoccupation  of  mind  prevented  nec- 
essary vigilance.  Poor  dear  Sister!  In  1675,  even  more 
than  in  1672,  she  lived  not  on  earth;  and  so  they  were 
forced  to  let  her  live  in  heaven!  Join  to  this  her  strange 
maladies,  with  their  sudden  cures  and  as  sudden  re- 
lapses, incomprehensible  to  the  physicians  and  still  more 
so  to  the  Sisters,  and  then  let  us  ask,  should  not  one 
be  astonished  ?  Why  not  say:  But  may  not  the  imagi- 
nation play  an  active  part  in  all  this  ?  Is  not  she  of 
whom  we  speak  laboring  under  an  ill-regulated  tempera- 


1 88  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

ment  ?  Is  she  not  perhaps  the  victim  of  illusion? 
Vainly  was  Margaret  Mary  thus  interrogated.  Her 
answers,  vague  and  unsatisfactory,  afforded  no  light  to 
the  members  of  the  Community.  Some  said  that  Sister 
Margaret  Mary  was  under  delusion.  They  even  accused 
her  of  having  won  over  Mother  de  Saumaise  and  Father 
de  la  Colombiere,  and  of  imparting  to  them  a  share  in 
her  delusions.  Some  went  even  farther,  and  asked  if 
she  were  not  possessed  by  the  devil;  whilst  others 
sprinkled  holy  water  when  they  passed  her.  One  ad- 
vantage of  this  diversity  of  judgment,  which  God  per- 
mitted as  formerly  the  incredulity  of  St.  Thomas,  was 
to  place  in  clearer  light  the  divine  origin  of  the  revela- 
tions on  the  Sacred  Heart.  But  it  had,  too,  its  dis- 
advantages, for  it  was  the  occasion  of  faults,  little  mur- 
murs, and  words  contrary  to  charity.  Among  some  of 
the  Sisters  it  gave  rise,  also,  to  obstinate  blindness 
touching  the  ways  of  God,  and  to  the  forming  of  par- 
ties, a  circumstance  well  calculated  to  render  the  con- 
vent of  Paray  wholly  unworthy  to  become  the  sanctuary 
of  the  Sacred  Heart.  All  this  led  to  a  singular  result, 
until  now  very  badly  understood,  and  which  has  been 
strangely  exaggerated  by  Mgr.  Languet,  Margaret 
Mary's  first  biographer.  He  had  received  the  recital 
from  some  aged  religious  who,  unable  to  forgive  them- 
selves the  part  they  had  taken  in  the  affair,  magnified 
the  injury  they  had  done  their  saintly  Sister,  ft  is  now 
our  duty  to  re-establish  the  truth  and  explain  its  grand 
signification. 

When  about  to  give  His  Law  to  the  people  on  Mount 
Sinai,  God  ordered  them  to  purify  themselves,  because 
"To-morrow,"  He  said  to  them  through  Moses,  "the 
Lord  will  do  wonders  among  you."  Again,  before  be- 
ginning His  ministry  at  Jerusalem,  the  Lord,  wishing 
to  inaugurate  it  by  the  purification  of  the  Temple,  drove 
from  it  all  those  that  dishonored  its  sanctity.  Thus  at 
the  moment  of  confiding  to  Paray  the  treasure  of  the 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.      1 89 

Sacred  Heart,  Almighty  God  resolved  to  demand  of  it 
a  solemn  expiation  of  all  the  faults  that  had  been  there 
committed,  especially  in  regard  to  His  servant.  Behold 
how  this  was  done: 

On  the  21st  of  November  of  every  year,  the  feast  of 
the  Presentation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the  Temple, 
the  religious  of  the  Visitation  renew  their  vows  at  holy 
Mass,  having  prepared  for  that  solemn  act  by  a  little 
retreat  and  some  penitential  exercises.  On  November 
20,  1677,  when  the  Sisters  went  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening  to  take  their  collation  in  the  refectory — for  they 
fast  on  that  day — they  were  much  astonished  to  see 
Saint  Margaret  enter,  or  rather  drag  herself  in,  fall 
on  her  knees  in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  and  there,  vio- 
lently agitated,  her  eyes  full  of  tears,  make  unavailing 
efforts  to  speak.  She  was  out  of  herself,  she  trembled 
in  every  limb,  and  uttered  from  time  to  time  the  words: 
"My  God,  my  God,  have  pity  on  me!"  After  vainly 
trying  to  force  some  words  from  her,  the  Sisters  con- 
ducted her  to  the  Superioress,  Mother  de  Saumaise,  who 
was  at  the  time  ill  in  the  infirmary.  Margaret  Mary, 
still  in  a  transport  of  sorrow,  and  perfectly  overwhelmed 
with  grief,  appeared  before  her.  She  was  questioned 
as  to  what  was  the  matter  with  her;  but  she  could 
say  nothing,  until  the  Superioress,  who  knew  that 
obedience  alone  could  unseal  her  lips,  ordered  her  to 
speak.  Then  came  the  startling  announcement  that 
God  was  displeased  with  the  Community;  that  He  had 
determined  to  punish  it,  unless  Margaret  herself  con- 
sented to  be  a  victim  in  its  stead  and  endure  the  chas- 
tisements He  had  prepared  for  it.  She  told  them  that, 
frightened  at  the  sight  of  such  humiliations  and  suffer- 
ings, she  had  long  resisted;  that  since  the  day  on  which 
He  had  said  to  her,  "  Thou  must  become  a  victim  of 
immolation  to  My  Heart,  to  avert  the  chastisements  in 
store,"  and  on  which  she  had  hesitated  through  fear, 
God  had  not  ceased  to  pursue  her;  that  again,  in  the 


19°  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

morning,  God's  anger  was  shown  her  in  a  terrible  man* 
ner,  and  He  had  said  to  her:  "  It  is  hard  for  thee  to 
kick  against  the  goad  of  My  justice."  In  the  same 
spirit  He  added:  "Since  thou  dost  make  so  much  re- 
sistance to  humiliations,  I  shall  give  them  to  thee  double; 
and  instead  of  a  secret  immolation,  I  demand  of  thee  a 
public  sacrifice  accompanied  by  the  most  humiliating 
circumstances."  It  was  for  this  that  Margaret  Mary 
had  dragged  herself  to  the  refectory  to  make  aloud  on 
the  spot  the  sacrifice  that  God  had  demanded  of  her  for 
the  sins  of  the  Community;  but  the  words  had  died  on 
her  lips.  She  had  fainted  in  terror  and  confusion  under 
the  eye  of  the  irritated  God  who  was  pursuing  her. 
All  this  was  told  to  the  Superioress  with  sighs  and  sobs, 
with  a  voice  and  demeanor  that  excited  pity. 

Mother  de  Saumaise,  who  knew  the  sublime  traditions 
of  the  Sacred  Heart,  who  doubted  not  their  truth,  and 
who  was  daily  expecting  God  to  make  them  known  to 
the  Community,  was  not  astonished  that  He  wished 
it  to  be  purified,  that  it  might  deserve  to  be  the  first 
sanctuary  of  that  Adorable  Heart.  She  sent  at  once 
for  the  Sister  Assistant,  and  told  her  to  say  to  the  Sisters 
that  God  was  angry  with  them,  and  that  to  appease 
Him  every  one  must  go  to  her  cell  and  take  a  discipline 
in  expiation  of  the  sins  of  the  Community. 

If,  in  imposing  this  penance,  the  Superioress  had  been 
able  to  give  the  reason  for  it,  namely,  the  necessity  of 
purifying  the  place  in  which  God  was  going  to  illus- 
trate the  wonders  of  His  love,  there  would  have  escaped 
from  the  Sisters  a  cry  of  answering  love.  But  Mother 
de  Saumaise,  not  feeling  herself  obliged  to  speak  more 
at  large,  kept  silence,  and  thus  subjected  the  whole 
Community  to  a  severe  trial.  That  apparition  of  Mar- 
garet Mary  in  the  refectory,  her  tears,  her  choking  sobs, 
her  cries,  "  Have  pity,  have  pity,  my  God!"  followed  by 
the  long  conference  with  the  Superioress,  in  which  she 
announced    that   God   was   dissatisfied,  that  the  Com- 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.      191 

munity  was  not  sufficiently  holy,  that  it  should  be  puri- 
fied by  penance, — all  this  to-day,  when  the  saintly 
Sister  appears  before  us  with  an  aureola  on  her  brow, 
this  command  on  the  part  of  God  to  purify  the  future 
sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart  is  beautiful  and  full  of 
signification;  but  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak  it  was 
far  from  being  so.  Margaret  Mary  was  young,  scarcely 
eight-and-twenty,  only  yesterday  professed,  giving  les- 
sons to  her  Sisters,  to  the  venerable  Mother  by  whom 
she  had  so  recently  been  received!  Such  conduct,  to 
say  the  least  of  it,  was  certainly  singular.  However, 
such  were  the  piety  and  fervor  of  this  Community,  of 
which  Mother  Greyfie  said,  "  This  dear  Paray  is  the 
Tabor  of  Superiors,  on  account  of  the  obedience  that 
therein  reigns," 1  that  the  Sisters  retired  in  silence  to  their 
cells,  and  performed  without  murmur  the  painful  ex- 
piation imposed  upon  them,  the  reason  of  which  they 
did  not  even  ask.  Some  only,  called  by  duty  to  the  in- 
firmary, or  a  few  whose  dissatisfaction  brought  them  to 
Mother  de  Saumaise,  found  Margaret  Mary  there  trem- 
bling and  still  overcome  by  her  feelings.  They  ap- 
proached and  questioned  her,  but  her  silence  only  in- 
creased their  chagrin.  As  the  hour  of  retiring  had 
sounded,  and  the  saintly  Sister  was  unable  to  go  to  her 
cell,  they  carried,  or  rather  they  dragged,  her  thither, 
plying  her  meanwhile  with  questions  in  which  there 
may  have  been  some  small  dash  of  irony.  As  they 
knew  nothing  of  the  mysterious  sufferings  of  their  holy 
companion,  some  of  them  proposed  that  a  physician 
should  be  called  in,  whilst  others  retorted  that  to  have 
recourse  to  holy  water  would  be  all-sufficient.  How 
many  took  part  in  this  scene  ?  Five  at  most;  and  were 
we  to  raise  the  veil,  we  might  almost  tell  their  names. 
They  were  Sisters  by  no  means  relaxed  and  tepid,  as 
has  been  asserted,  but  souls  pious  and  even  fervent. 
Their  only  fault  was  a  little  too  narrow  an  attachment 
1  Memoire  of  Mother  Greyfie. 


l92  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

to  the  letter  of  the  law.  Dreading  innovations  of  any 
kind,  they  interpreted  the  word  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales 
in  a  servile  manner,  and  thought  that  instead  of  thus 
disturbing  the  quiet  and  good  order  of  the  convent, 
their  Sister  would  do  far  better  simply  to  follow  what 
is  prescribed. 

For  a  proof  of  what  we  say,  as  also  of  their  own  piety, 
we  have  only  to  see  them  at  a  later  period  kneeling  be- 
fore Mgr.  Languet,  and  humbly  accusing  themselves  of 
their  share  in  the  scene  of  that  memorable  night.  This 
they  did  with  a  trifle  of  holy  exaggeration,  thus  mis- 
leading him  as  an  historian.  The  next  morning,  also, 
distressed  at  having  broken  the  "  great  silence,"  and,  in 
their  excitement,  of  having  allowed  some  words  contrary 
to  charity  to  escape  them,  they  asked  to  go  to  confes- 
sion before  holy  Mass.  On  their  return  from  holy 
Communion,  Margaret  Mary  heard  the  Lord  saying  to 
her:  "  My  daughter,  the  peace  is  concluded,  and  the 
sanctity  of  My  justice  is  satisfied."  The  temple  had 
been  purified. 

This  sublime  act,  the  signification  of  which  can  escape 
no  one,  and  which  was  none  other  than  the  divine  puri- 
fication of  the  convent  of  Paray  before  the  day  on  which 
Jesus  would  make  of  it  the  first  sanctuary  of  His  Divine 
Heart,  was  the  last  act  of  the  drama  in  which  we  shall 
see  appear  the  venerable  Mother  de  Saumaise.  Her  six 
years  of  government  were  drawing  to  a  close,  and 
shortly  after,  she  left  Paray  to  return  to  Dijon.  She 
had  deserved  well  of  God  and  the  Church  by  her  intel- 
ligence and  meekness,  her  firmness  and  prudence;  for, 
after  hesitating  an  instant  in  view  of  Margaret's  extra- 
ordinary ways,  she  recognized  her  true  call  to  the  Visi- 
tation, and  admitted  her  to  holy  profession.  She  after- 
ward directed  her  with  a  rare  mingling  of  meekness  and 
strength;  and  when  the  sublime  revelations  began, 
sought  counsel,  that  she  might  not  err  in  things  so  dif- 
ficult.    She  had  listened  humbly  to  Father  de  la  Colom- 


The  Sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart.      193 

biere  and,  reassured  by  him,  had  continued  to  keep 
Margaret  in  humility  and  peace.  Convinced,  finally, 
that  God  was  preparing  a  great  light  for  His  Church, 
instead  of  turning  the  part  she  had  taken  in  it  to  her 
own  glory,  she  silently  withdrew,  discreetly  carrying 
the  secret  in  her  own  heart,  and  humbly  leaving  to 
others  the  honor  of  assisting  at  these  wonders  and  of 
laboring  at  the  promulgation  of  that  august  mystery. 
From  her  we  have  a  magnificent  testimony  on  our 
saintly  Sister,  in  which  she  particularly  praises  her 
humility,  her  obedience,  her  mortification,  her  avidity 
for  contempt,  and  that  impatience  for  the  cross  which 
increased  with  trials.  "  During  the  six  years  that  I 
knew  our  Sister  Margaret  Mary,"  she  wrote,  "  I  can 
affirm  that  she  never  for  one  instant  relaxed  the  resolu- 
tion taken  at  her  profession  to  make  God  reign  in  her 
before  all,  above  all,  and  in  all,  and  never  to  grant 
any  pleasure  to  mind  or  body.  This  fidelity  attracted 
upon  her  from  the  Divine  Goodness  some  special  graces, 
which  brought  with  them  a  very  great  desire  for  the 
cross,  humiliations  and  sufferings.  We  may  truly  say 
without  exaggeration  that  no  one  was  more  ambitious 
of  honors  and  pleasures  than  she  was  of  contempt  and 
humiliations  which,  in  spite  of  her  highly  sensitive  na- 
ture, formed  her  only  joy."  1 

Nothing  can  be  added  to  these  words. 

1  Contemp.,  p.  114. 


J94  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER   XL 

MOTHER  GREYFIE  SUBMITS  MARGARET'S  EXTRAORDI 
NARY  WAYS  TO  A  NEW  EXAMINATION— HER  SEVER 
ITY  AND  HER  FEARLESSNESS— FATHER  DE  LA  CO 
LOMBIERE  RETURNS  TO  PARAY— HIS  DEATH. 

1678-1684. 

"  Probate  spiritus,  si  ex  Deo  sint." 

"  Try  the  spirits  if  they  be  of  God." — /.  St.  John  iv.  I. 

'UNE  17,  1678,  Mother  Peronne-Rosalie  Greyfie,  a 
religious  of  Annecy,  arrived  at  Paray,  having 
been  elected  Superioress  in  place  of  Mother  de 
Saumaise. 

The  first  of  the  three  Superioresses  deputed  by  God 
to  examine  the  extraordinary  ways  of  Margaret  Mary, 
Mother  Hersant,  was  from  Paris.  The  second,  she  who 
had  admitted  her  to  profession  and  who  was  the  confi- 
dant of  the  revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  Mother  de 
Saumaise,  was  from  Dijon,  the  natal  place  of  St.  Chantal. 
Mow  we  have  Annecy,  "  the  holy  source,"  coming  in  its 
turn  to  take  up  this  grand  and  solemn  examination,  and 
going,  if  we  may  so  express  ourselves,  to  close  it. 

Coming  to  Paray  after  the  period  of  the  grandest 
revelations  and  before  the  public  manifestation  of  Mar- 
garet's apostolate,  Mother  Greyfie  seems  to  have  been 
delegated  for  no  other  end  than,  by  the  severity  and 
courage  of  her  examination,  to  throw  splendor  upon 
Margaret's  virtue  and  the  supernatural  character  of  her 
mission.  It  must  be  granted  that  no  Superioress  was 
more  fitted  than  she  to  fulfil  the  task  intrusted  to  her. 
Blessed  in  her  earliest  childhood  by  the  venerable 
Mother  de  Chantal,  admitted  to  the  "  little  habit"  and 
boarding-school  by  Mother  de  Blonay,  received  to  her 


A  New  Examination.  195 

profession  Dy  Mother  de  Chaugy,  Peronne-Rosalie 
Greyfie  had  been  reared  from  her  earliest  years  in 
the  purest  atmosphere  of  the  Visitation.  The  stories 
told  of  her  during  her  childhood,  and  later  in  her  novi- 
tiate, record  actions  full  of  generosity  and  strength  of 
character  that  show  the  grandeur  of  her  soul.  "  She  is 
a  distinguished  subject,"  wrote  the  Superioress  of  An- 
necy,  Marie- Aimee  de  Rabutin,  on  sending  her  to  Paray, 
"  who  perfectly  possesses  the  spirit  of  meekness  and 
strength  proper  for  governing.  Upright  and  sincere, 
she  is  a  perfectly  humble  soul,  and  very  exact  to  the 
observance.  Indeed,  my  dear  Sisters,  only  my  great 
love  for  Paray  induces  me  to  send  it  this  Mother  with 
whom,  I  am  persuaded,  you  will  be  perfectly  satisfied."1 
Superioress  at  Thonon,  Paray,  Lemur,  Rouen,  and  An- 
necy  successively,  she  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine 
years,  after  sixty-two  years  of  profession.  She  was  one 
of  those  great  Superioresses  of  the  Visitation  during  its 
second  period.  But  there  is  a  difference  in  souls. 
Sweetness  predominated  in  Mother  de  Saumaise.  In 
her  one  loved  that  breadth  and  frankness  of  mind, 
unmixed  with  weakness,  that  led  her  to  all  that  is  good. 
Mother  Greyfie  was,  on  the  contrary,  characterized  by 
rigorism  and  austerity.  "She  had,"  say  the  old  Me- 
moires,  "an  extreme  distrust  for  the  guidance  of  extra- 
ordinary souls."2  "Her  wonderful  attachment  to  the 
Rule  made  of  her  a  living  rule."3  With  such  a  char- 
acter and  such  inclinations,  one  might  expect  Mother 
Greyfie  to  neglect  no  precaution  to  assure  herself  of  the 
nature  of  Sister  Margaret  Mary's  extraordinary  ways. 
Perhaps  it  was  for  this  that  the  convent  of  Annecy, 
which  knew  of  the  trouble  at  Paray,  had  suggested  her 
election  to  the  Sisters.     Let  us,  to  rise  above  thoughts 

1  Abridgment  of  the  Life  and  Virtues  of  our  very  honored  Mother 
Peronne-Rosalie  Greyfie,  who  died  Superioress  of  this  First  Monastery 
of  Annecy,  February  26,  1717.  Small  octavo  of  19  pages.  Annecy,  1718. 

*  Life  and  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  448.  3  Abrege,  etc. 


x96  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

so  low,  say  that  it  was  certainly  for  this  purpose  God 
had  brought  her  to  Paray,  that  there  might  no  longer  be 
room  for  doubt  of  Sister  Margaret  Mary's  sublime  mis- 
sion. The  precautions  taken  by  Mother  Greyfie  were 
of  such  a  nature,  her  severity  so  great,  that  she  after- 
ward experienced  remorse  for  it;  nor  could  she  end  her 
life  without  publicly  expressing  regret  "  for  having 
yielded  too  much  to  Margaret's  desire  to  be  humbled 
and  mortified."  1 

At  the  time  of  Mother  Greyfie's  coming  to  the  con- 
vent of  Paray,  the  community,  "very  good,"  she  says, 
"and  full  of  virtue  and  piety,"2  was  decidedly  divided 
on  the  subject  of  Margaret  Mary.  The  great  act  that 
we  have  related  in  the  preceding  chapter,  always  inex- 
plicable, had  left  a  deep  impression.  No  one  could 
doubt  Margaret's  virtue,  though  her  conduct  astonished. 
Discussion  went  on,  not  with  regard  to  the  revelations 
of  the  Sacred  Heart,  absolutely  unknown  to  the  Com- 
munity, and  of  which  the  Sister  had  not  yet  said  one 
word,  but  on  her  long  prayers,  her  faintings  in  the 
choir,  her  unusual  practices,  her  strange  maladies.  Re- 
ligious the  most  grave,  the  most  fervent,  and  at  their 
head  Marie-Madeleine  des  Escures,  "  whom  they  always 
regarded  as  a  saint,"  3  inclined  to  believe  that  Margaret 
was  in  error. 

No  doubt  Mother  Greyfie  had  from  the  beginning 
demanded  entire  and  filial  confidence.  She  learned  in 
this  way,  and  perhaps  also  from  Mother  de  Saumaise, 
of  the  three  revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  What 
impression  had  this  recital  made  upon  her  mind  ?  Did 
she  believe  it  ?  Did  she  doubt  it  ?  It  is  difficult  to  say, 
although  everything  seemed  to  indicate  that,  at  first, 
she  was  not  perfectly  convinced. 

1  Memoire  of  Mother  Greyfi6.  2  Ibid. 

3  Abridgment  of  the  Life  and  Virtues  of  our  very  honored  Sister 
Marie-Elizabeth  de  la  Salle,  died  in  this  Convent  of  Paray,  February 
lo>  1735-     Small  octavo  of  13  pages. 


A  New  Examination.  197 

However  that  may  be,  her  resolution  very  quickly 
followed.  It  was  this:  to  make  no  account  of  what  she 
had  heard,  and  to  subject  Margaret  in  all  things  to  the 
common  life  of  the  Community.  She  herself  tells  us 
with  what  rigor  she  executed  her  resolve:  "When  I 
entered  the  service  of  your  house,"  she  wrote  later  to 
the  Sisters  of  Paray,  "  although  your  Community  was 
very  good,  full  of  virtue  and  piety,  I  nevertheless  found 
sentiments  very  much  divided  with  respect  to  this  true 
spouse  of  the  crucified  Saviour.  Therefore,  to  keep 
each  Sister  in  peace  and  tranquillity,  I  made  up  my 
mind  rarely  to  pay  any  attention  to  the  extraordinary 
things  that  she  said  took  place  in  her.  I  never  intro- 
duced her  to  any  one,  neither  within  nor  without  the 
convent.  If  it  happened  that  she  did  something  which 
displeased,  though  by  my  order  or  with  my  consent,  I 
suffered  that  others  should  disapprove  it,  and  I  even 
blamed  her  myself  if  she  were  present."  ! 

With  an  imperfect  soul  such  conduct  might  have 
been  dangerous,  leading  perhaps  to  revolt.  But  with 
Margaret  Mary,  whatever  efforts  Mother  Greyfie  made, 
she  could  not  succeed  in  humbling  her  as  much  as  she 
desired  to  humble  herself.  Mother  Greyfie  continues: 
"  It  was  always  Sister  Margaret  Mary  who  was  called  to 
account  for  whatever  went  wrong;  it  was  she  who  did 
all  the  mischief,  all  the  evil,  or  who  was  the  cause  of 
God's  permitting  it  in  others.  Thus  she  ceased  not  to 
ask  to  do  penance,  to  satisfy  Divine  Justice.  Had  she 
been  allowed,  she  would  have  martyrized  her  body  with 
fasts,  vigils,  bloody  disciplines,  and  other  macerations." 

This  first  means  not  succeeding,  Mother  Greyfie  tried 
another.  She  not  only  affected  to  make  no  account  of 
Margaret,  whom  she  ever  sacrificed  to  the  murmurs  of 
the  Community,  even  when  the  saintly  Sister  had  acted 
by  her  orders;  but  to  calm  minds,  she  began  to  with- 
draw from  Margaret  the  permissions  that  had  be«n 
1  Memoire  of  Mother  Greyfie. 


J9^  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

accorded  her.  She  had  been  allowed  to  make  the  Holy 
Hour;  that  is  to  say,  every  week  on  the  night  between 
Thursday  and  Friday,  at  the  end  of  Matins,  she  re- 
mained in  the  choir  until  eleven  o'clock,  prostrate  on 
the  floor,  her  arms  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  It  was  there 
the  Lord  made  her  ineffably  participate  in  the  sorrows 
of  His  agony.  At  first,  Mother  Greyfie  made  her 
change  her  posture,  requiring  her  to  kneel  with  her 
hands  joined;  and  soon  she  spoke  of  suppressing  this 
exercise  altogether.  So  long  as  there  was  question  of 
merely  changing  her  posture,  the  humble  Margaret  said 
not  a  word.  But  when  the  Holy  Hour  was  suppressed, 
though  she  obeyed  (for  nothing  could  shake  her  obedi- 
ence), two  or  three  times  on  coming  from  prayer  she  ran 
frightened  to  the  Superioress  to  say  that  the  Lord  ap- 
peared irritated,  and  that  she  was  afraid  some  terrible 
punishment  would  reveal  His  anger.  Mother  Greyfie 
paid  no  attention  to  her,  but  persisted  in  the  order  she 
had  given.  While  things  were  going  on  in  this  way, 
there  died  suddenly,  and  under  circumstances  that 
astonished  Mother  Greyfie,  one  of  the  youngest  and 
most  amiable  Sisters  of  the  Community,  one  on  whom 
were  founded  the  greatest  hopes.  Mother  Greyfie 
thought  she  saw  in  this  stroke  the  divine  anger  threat- 
ening her,  and  she  hastened  to  restore  Margaret's  per- 
mission for  the  Holy  Hour.  It  is  she  herself  who  tells 
this  humbly  and  simply.  But  obliged  thus  to  yield  in 
this  one  point,  she  held  firmly  to  the  rest  of  her  orders; 
and  our  poor  Sister  Margaret  Mary,  drawn  by  a  force 
more  powerful  than  herself  and  having  already  taken 
her  upward  flight,  was  obliged  humbly  to  subject  her- 
self to  the  pace  of  the  other  Sisters. 

Soon  Mother  Greyfie  went  farther.  She  affected  to 
pay  no  more  attention  to  her  maladies  than  to  her  at- 
tractions and  to  the  permissions  that  had  been  ac- 
corded her.  She  obliged  her,  though  in  a  raging  fe- 
ver   and    weighed    down    by  illness,    to   follow   every 


A  New  Examination.  199 

exercise  of  the  Community.  It  might  have  drawn  tears 
to  all  eyes  to  see  this  perfectly  obedient  soul  dragging 
herself  to  the  choir  and  there  remaining  on  her  knees, 
her  hands  joined  and  motionless,  with  the  exception  of 
the  slight  movements  the  fever  forced  from  her.  One 
of  these  occasions  will  be  forever  memorable.  Mar- 
garet was  in  bed  in  the  infirmary.  Mother  Greyfie 
went  to  see  her,  and  told  her  to  rise  and  follow  the 
exercises  of  the  annual  retreat.  "  Go,"  said  she  to  her, 
"  I  remit  you  into  the  hands  of  God.  Let  Him  direct 
you,  govern  you,  and  cure  you  according  to  His  will." 
Margaret  Mary  was,  at  first,  a  little  surprised  to  find 
herself  put  into  retreat,  notwithstanding  her  raging 
fever;  but  the  joy  of  being,  as  the  Mother  h&d  said 
"  placed  in  the  hands  of  God  "  overruled  every  other 
consideration.  She  rose  at  once  from  her  bed,  and  be- 
gan her  retreat.  God,  who  loves  generous  souls,  ap- 
peared to  her  as  soon  as  she  had  retired  to  her  little 
cell.  She  was  lying  on  the  floor,  benumbed  with  cold. 
He  raised  her  up  with  a  thousand  caresses,  saying: 
"Lo!  thou  art  now  committed,  entirely  to  Me  and  My 
care;  consequently,  I  wish  to  restore  thee  in  perfect 
health  to  her  who  remitted  thee  into  My  hands."  In 
effect,  after  eight  days  passed  in  ineffable  delights,  Mar- 
garet Mary  came  out  of  retreat  physically  renewed,  and 
so  strong  that  Mother  Greyfie  was  in  admiration. 

One  might  be  tempted  to  accuse  Mother  Greyfie  of 
cruelty,  but  she  was  far  from  deserving  such  a  reproach. 
She  wished  to  see  clearly,  for  she  felt  the  weight  of  her 
responsibility  in  matters  so  grave.  By  nature  little 
given  to  extraordinary  things;  "knowing,"  as  St.  Chan- 
tal  says,  "  that  women  are  sometimes  very  imaginative;" 
fearing  to  be  deceived  and  drawing  the  convent  and  the 
whole  Institute  into  error,  she  knew  not  what  pre- 
cautions to  take  to  assure  herself  of  the  truth  of  the 
sublime  revelations  of   the   Sacred   Heart.      And  sup- 


200  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

posing  that  she  did  exceed  in  measure,  which,  however, 
we  do  not  believe,  who  will  dare  blame  her  ? 

Resolved  to  rise  above  her  doubts,  she  wished  to  have 
at  any  cost  some  authentic  act  to  prove  that  it  was  God 
who  was  conducting  Sister  Margaret  Mary.  Conse- 
quently, full  of  that  holy  audacity  to  be  found  in  the 
lives  of  the  saints,  she  had  the  hardihood  to  demand  a 
miracle  that  would  have  numberless  witnesses  and  the 
greatest  publicity. 

"  One  day,"  says  Mother  Greyfie,  "  when  the  fervent 
Sister  was  recovering  from  a  serious  illness  and  had  not 
yet  left  her  bed,  I  know  not  whether  it  was  on  a  Satur- 
day or  the  eve  of  a  feast,  I  went  to  see  her.  She  asked 
my  permission  to  rise  next  morning  for  holy  Mass.  I 
hesitated  a  little  at  her  request,  and  she  perfectly  under- 
stood that  I  did  not  consider  her  strong  enough  to 
grant  it.  Whereupon,  responding  to  my  thought,  she 
said  tome,  sweetly  and  graciously:  '  My  good  Mother,  if 
you  wish  it,  the  Lord  will  also  wish  it  and  give  me  the 
strength.'  '  Then,'  I  replied,  '  I  shall  tell  the  Sister  In- 
firmarian  to  give  you  some  nourishment  in  the  morning 
and  let  you  rise  about  Office  time,  so  as  to  bring  you  to 
holy  Mass."'1 

The  infirmarian  was  Sister  Catherine-Augustine  Ma- 
rest.  Now,  on  the  evening  of  that  same  day,  Margaret 
Mary,  feeling  better,  thought  she  could  not  only  hear 
Mass  the  next  day,  but  also  receive  holy  Communion, 
of  which  she  had  been  so  long  deprived.  She  spoke  of 
it  to  the  Sister  Infirmarian,  and  implored  her  to  go  and 
ask  the  Superioress'  permission  to  remain  fasting,  that 
she  might  communicate.  Sister  Marest  promised,  but 
soon  forgot  the  commission.  Next  morning  she  made 
Margaret  rise  very  early  and  still  fasting.  All  at  once 
she  remembered  that  she  had  not  asked  permission  for 
Margaret  to  remain  fasting,  so  she  left  the  infirmary  to 
seek  the  Superioress  and  ask  the  desired  leave.  "  God 
1  Memoire  of  Mother  Greyfie. 


A  New  Examination.  201 

permitted,"  says  Mother  Greyfie,  "  that,  as  she  left  by 
one  door,  I  should  enter  the  infirmary  by  the  other. 
Hardly  had  I  seen  the  poor  invalid  up  and  learned  from 
her  that  she  was  fasting  with  the  intention  of  being 
able  to  communicate,  than,  without  inquiring  into  the 
fact,  I  gave  her  a  sharp  reprimand,  exaggerated  her 
fault  and  called  it  the  effect  of  her  own  will,  want  of 
obedience,  submission,  and  simplicity.  In  conclusion, 
I  told  her  to  go  to  Mass  and  communicate.  But  since 
her  own  will  had  given  her  sufficient  strength  and  cour- 
age for  that,  I  wished  in  my  turn  to  command.  I  then 
prescribed  that  she  should  carry  her  bed-clothes  to  her 
cell  and  her  napkin  to  the  refectory,  and  that  she  should 
go  to  the  Office  at  the  sound  of  the  bell,  and  follow  ali 
the  Community  exercises  for  five  consecutive  months, 
without  once  returning  to  the  infirmary.  Margaret 
Mary  received  my  correction  on  her  knees,  her  hands 
joined,  her  countenance  sweet  and  tranquil.  After 
listening  to  the  end,  she  humbly  asked  pardon  and  pen- 
ance for  her  fault,  and  at  once  set  about  fulfilling  to  the 
letter  all  that  I  had  commanded."  * 

There  were  at  this  time  in  the  infirmary  two  Sisters, 
Francoise-Marguerite  d'Athose  and  Catherine-Augus- 
tine Marest,  the  latter  having  returned  in  time  to 
witness  the  scene.  Both  testified  at  the  process  of 
canonization  to  the  impression  received  from  Margaret's 
humility.  They  saw  her  humbly  fall  on  her  knees  be- 
fore her  Superioress,  ask  her  pardon  for  a  fault  that 
she  had  not  committed,  and,  without  reply  or  excuse,  go 
simply  where  obedience  sent  her. 

It  was,  perhaps,  lightly  and  under  some  excitement 
that  Mother  Greyfie  had  told  Margaret  to  carry  the 
clothes  from  her  bed  and  not  again  to  set  foot  in  the 
infirmary  for  five  months.  But  when  the  saint  had 
gone,  reflecting  that,  humanly  speaking,  obedience  to 
her  orders  was  impossible,  the  venerable  Superioress 
1  Memoire  of  Mother  Greyfie. 


202  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

felt  inspired  that  this  was  the  occasion  for  which  she 
had  so  long  been  seeking,  the  miracle  that  would  banish 
every  remaining  doubt.  Retiring  to  her  cell,  she  wrote 
the  following  note,  which  she  laid  under  Margaret's 
eyes,  as  she  was  already  kneeling  in  the  choir  to  hear 
holy  Mass. 

"Live  *J«  Jesus! 

"  I,  the  undersigned,  by  virtue  of  the  authority  God 
has  given  me  in  quality  of  Superioress  of  Sister  Mar- 
garet Mary,  command  her,  by  virtue  of  holy  obedience, 
to  ask  health  of  the  Lord  with  so  much  fervor  and  im- 
portunity that  she  may  prevail  on  His  goodness  to 
grant  it,  in  order  not  to  be  always  a  burden  to  holy 
religion  and  to  be  able  assiduously  to  practise  all  the 
exercises  of  the  Community,  and  this  until  the  Presenta- 
tion of  Our  Lady  of  this  year,  1780,  on  which  day  we 
shall  deliberate  upon  what  we  shall  do  for  the  future. 
"Sister  Peronne-Rosalie  Greyfie,  Superioress." 

Mother  Greyfie  did  not  mince  matters.  More  than 
once  we  have  had  proofs  that  on  great  occasions  God 
loves  such  bold  tests  of  faith.  The  miracle  asked  by 
Margaret  Mary  was  instantaneous  and  brilliant;  or 
rather  there  were  two  of  them.  First,  the  sudden  and 
extraordinary  cure,  followed  by  perfect  health;  then,  at 
the  end  of  five  months,  the  feast  of  the  Presentation, 
a  relapse  so  sudden,  so  lamentable,  into  so  unusual  a 
state,  that  God's  intervention  was  evident.  The  entire 
Community  witnessed  these  two  prodigies.  A  number 
of  Sisters  testified  to  them  at  the  process  of  canoniza- 
tion; and  all  declared  that  they  knew  not  which  to  ad- 
mire more,  the  swiftness  of  the  cure  or  the  precision  of 
the  relapse. 

Let  us  listen  to  Margaret  Mary  recounting  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  first  miracle:  "  At  the  elevation  of 
holy  Mass,  I  felt  sensibly  relieved  of  all  my  infirmities. 
It  was  as  if  a  robe  of  suffering  had  been  taken  off   me; 


A  New  Examination.  203 

and  I  found  myself  with  the  health  and  strengtn  of  a 
very  robust  person  that  had  never  been  sick." 

Listen  now  to  contemporaries,  who  testified  to  ..he 
second.  "  We  all  admired  so  manifest  a  miracle,  espe- 
cially as  at  the  same  hour  upon  which  the  five  months 
expired,  she  fell  suddenly  as  ill  as  she  had  been 
before."  2 

Several  religious  testified  at  the  time  to  these  two 
miracles.  "  The  venerable  Sister,"  says  Sister  Fran- 
chise Chalon,  "  was  suddenly  cured  the  day  on  which 
the  Superioress  asked  it.  She  went  to  the  choir  with 
the  other  Sisters,  all  of  whom  were  much  astonished  by 
the  sudden  change  in  her  state.  All  went  well  for  five 
months,  at  the  end  of  which  she  relapsed  into  her 
former  infirmities."  The  said  deponent  added  that  the 
venerable  Sister  had  made  her  read  the  note  which  the 
Superioress  had  given  her,  and  in  which  she  exacted 
her  cure  as  an  evidence  of  the  divine  origin  of  what 
took  place  in  her.3  "  I  attest,"  says  Sister  Rosalie  de 
Lyonne,  "  that  I  saw  our  venerable  Sister  at  the  time  of 
her  greatest  illness,  when  she  received  from  the  Superi 
oress  the  note  ordering  her  to  ask  of  God  her  cure  as  a 
sign  that  all  that  took  place  in  her  came  from  Him. 
Margaret  Mary  accepted  the  alternative,  and  submitted. 
That  same  day  she  was  cured,  and,  to  our  great  astonish- 
ment, began  to  follow  all  the  exercises  of  the  Com- 
munity. She  continued  in  perfect  health  for  five  months, 
needing  no  remedy;  but  at  the  end  of  that  time  she 
relapsed  into  all  her  infirmities.  I  saw  and  read  the 
note.  I  am  an  eye-witness  of  Jboth  the  cure  and  the 
relapse."  The  venerable  Sister  said  to  her  in  con- 
fidence, as  she  tells  us,  that  if  the  Superioress  had  asked 
five  years  instead  of  five  months  she  would  undoubt- 
edly have  obtained  them   from   her  amiable  Saviour.4 

1  Memoire,  p.  363. 

8  Contemp.,  p.  150.  3  Process  of  1715,  p.  57. 

4  Process  of  1715,  Deposition  of  Sister  de  Lyonne. 


204  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Besides  other  witnesses,  Sister  Catherine  Marest  and 
Mother  Elizabeth  de  la  Garde  spoke  of  the  miracles 
and  stated  the  facts  in  identical  terms,  to  the  surprise 
and  admiration  of  the  Sisters. 

While  things  were  taking  this  turn  at  Paray,  Father 
de  la  Colombiere  was  obliged  to  leave  England.  He 
returned  to  France  crushed,  almost  dying.  Had  any 
one  been  tempted  to  envy  Father  de  la  Colombiere's 
position  as  almoner  to  the  Duchess  of  York  and  con- 
fessor to  the  heir-presumptive  to  the  crown,  he  might 
now  estimate  in  his  person  the  small  value  of  worldly 
honors.  After  passing  four  years  in  the  Duchess  of 
York's  palace,  where  he  lived  as  a  religious  and  in  such 
detachment  that  he  did  not  even  visit  the  great  capital 
of  England,  and  at  the  same  time  as  an  apostle,  preach- 
ing incessantly  and  with  the  greatest  success,  Father  de 
la  Colombiere,  along  with  some  English  Catholics,  was 
suddenly  involved  in  a  grave  accusation  of  plotting 
against  the  safety  of  the  state.  The  accusation  was 
apparently  political,  intended,  they  said,  to  protect  the 
threatened  life  of  the  king;  in  reality,  however,  its  ob- 
ject was  to  dishonor  the  Duke  of  York,  his  heir-pre- 
sumptive, because  he  was  a  Catholic,  and  thus  prevent 
his  ascending  the  throne.  In  revolutionary  times,  when 
people  are  excited,  a  word  suffices  to  enkindle  a  fire. 
The  idea  of  this  pretended  plot  hatched  by  the  Catho- 
lics against  the  life  of  the  king  of  England  was  received 
by  the  people  of  England  with  a  credulity  at  which 
their  greatest  historians  now  blush.  Father  de  la 
Colombiere  was  conspicuous  by  his  high  position,  his 
apostolic  zeal  and  great  talents.  He  was,  therefore, 
one  of  the  first  arrested  even  in  the  palace  of  the 
Duchess  of  York,  and  cast  into  prison.  There,  resigned 
to  death,  he  languished  a  whole  month  by  order  of  his 
judges.  At  the  end  of  this  time  he  was  made  to  assist 
at  the  execution  of  four  English  Jesuits,  his  confreres 
and    friends,    who   were   put    to  death  under  his  eyes. 


Father  de  la  Colornbiere  returns  to  Par  ay.   2c  - 

Then,  as  his  enemies  dare  not  touch  his  person,  by- 
reason  of  his  being  a  Frenchman,  they  condemned  him 
to  perpetual  banishment  from  England.  A  vessel 
landed  him  on  the  shores  of  France.  The  dampness  of 
his  prison,  the  racking  emotion  of  a  sensitive  soul  like 
his  at  the  sight  of  the  sufferings  of  his  friends,  the 
sorrow  of  leaving  a  great  church  desolated  for  so  long 
a  period,  brought  on  hemorrhages  of  the  lungs,  whic*» 
in  some  months  conducted  him  to  the  grave. 

Hardly  had  he  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  France  when  he 
wrote  to  his  Superior  in  terms  that  portray  the  most 
touching  humility.  He  begged  forgiveness  for  return- 
ing to  France  almost  incapable  of  work,  a  burden  to 
the  Society,  and  he  asked  for  orders.  "  It  is  very  pain- 
ful to  me,"  he  wrote,  "  to  return  to  the  province  in  a 
condition  in  which  apparently  I  shall  not  be  able  to 
work  much  this  year."  1  Lyons  having  been  assigned 
him  as  his  place  of  residence,  he  passed  rapidly  through 
Paris,  and  proceeded  through  Burgundy,  stopping  at 
Dijon  to  see  Mother  de  Saumaise.  He  had  always  had 
an  uncommon  esteem  for  this  soul,  so  generous,  so 
good,  and  he  wanted  to  converse  with  her  about  Sister 
Margaret  Mary,  and  learn  in  detail  the  end  of  those 
marvels  of  which  they  had  together  been  the  first  con- 
fidants. It  is  bitterly  to  be  regretted  that  the  conversa- 
tion of  those  two  great  souls  has  not  been  preserved. 
We  know  not  whether  Mother  de  Saumaise  carefully 
guarded  the  secret,  or  whether  the  Sisters  to  whom  she 
related  it  had  no  thought  of  committing  it  to  writing. 
We  only  know  that  during  the  visit  he  made  at  the 
parlor  to  all  the  Community,  Mother  de  Saumaise  hav- 
ing been  called  out  for  a  moment,  he  took  advantage  of 
her  absence  to  congratulate  the  Sisters  on  having  such 
a  Mother,  adding  humbly  that  he  would  esteem  himself 
happy  to  be  under  such  direction. 

From  Dijon  Father  de  la  Colornbiere  went  direct  to 

1  Letter  of  January  16,  1679. 


2°6  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Paray,  conducted  to  Mother  Greyfie  by  the  same  Hand 
that  had  hitherto  led  him,  in  order  to  throw  on  the 
extraordinary  ways  of  Sister  Margaret  Mary  some  last 
light.  At  Paray  they  hardly  recognized  him.  He  was 
no  longer  the  young  religious,  at  once  so  humble  and 
So  brilliant,  who  was  so  communicative,  and  who  spoke 
with  so  much  warmth.  He  could  scarcely  breathe. 
They  felt  that  he  "  had,"  as  Holy  Scripture  says, 
"  come  out  of  great  tribulation."  '  But  his  peace  of 
soul,  the  fire  that  lit  up  his  emaciated  countenance,  his 
recollection  and  lively  faith,  particularly  at  the  altar, 
told  more  plainly  than  words  that  this  tribulation  had 
been  good  for  him,  and  that  he  had  finished  *'  the  wash- 
ing of  his  robe  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb."  The  whole 
town,  and  the  Visitation  in  particular,  welcomed  him 
with  that  veneration  which  the  first  Christians  had  for 
those  confessors  whom  the  sword  had  spared  in  spite  of 
themselves.  According  to  the  expression  of  one  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church:  "He  had  not  failed  to  be  a 
martyr,  if  martyrdom  had  not  failed  him."2 

Paray  seemed  to  restore  him  a  little  strength.  Some 
days  after  his  arrival,  he  wrote  to  Mother  de  Saumaise: 
"I  was  ill  on  arriving  at  Paray;  but  in  two  days  I  was 
re-established.  I  worked  straight  on  for  a  week  from 
morning  till  night,  without  feeling  any  inconvenience. 
I  cannot  tell  you  how  many  subjects  of  consolation  God 
has  given  me;  I  found  matters  in  an  admirable  con- 
dition. //  seems  to  me  thai  everything  has  taken  an  increase 
since  my  departure.  .  .  .  You  can  easily  believe  that  in 
eight  days  I  have  not  had  time  for  long  interviews  with 
those  who  wished  to  speak  to  me;  and  yet  it  has  pleased 
the  infinite  mercy  of  God  to  shed  so  many  blessings  on 
the  few  words  I  have  said  that  all  have  been,  as  it  were, 
renewed  in  fervor."  3 

1  Apoc.  vii.  14. 

2  See  the  Approbation  of  Father  de  la  Colombiere's  Sermons, 
December  21,  1 681. 

3  Letter  written  at  Lyons,  March  2? 


Father  de  la  Colombiere  returns  to  Par  ay.   207 

He  saw  Mother  Greyfie  several  times,  and  had  long 
interviews  with  her,  but  with  Sister  Margaret  Mary- 
only  once.  This  accorded  with  the  course  he  always 
followed  in  conversing  with  the  latter.  He  saw  her 
rarely,  then  but  for  a  short  time;  and  they  hardly  ever 
wrote.  If  Margaret  had  a  word  to  say  to  him,  she  put 
it  on  a  scrap  of  paper  and  confided  it  to  Mother  Greyfie, 
who  either  sent  it,  or  did  not  send  it,  to  London.  The 
reply  came  under  cover  to  the  Superioress,  or  rather  in 
her  letter.  A  heavenly  detachment  existed  in  those 
rare  and  hasty  communications.  One  sees  nothing 
human  in  them.  This  unique  visit  was,  besides,  full  of 
consolation.  "  I  have  only  been  able  to  see  Sister  Mar- 
garet Mary  once;  but  I  have  had  much  consolation  in 
the  visit.  I  always  find  her  extremely  humble  and  sub- 
missive, with  a  great  love  of  the  cross  and  of  contempt. 
Behold  the  marks  of  the  spirit  that  guides  her,  and 
which  never  deceives  any  one." ' 

What  Father  de  la  Colombiere  wrote  then  to  Mother 
de  Saumaise  he  had  said  in  the  same  tone  to  Mothe** 
Greyfie,  with  whom  he  had  conversed  a  long  time.  He 
declared  to  her  very  decidedly  that,  as  for  himself,  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  believe  that  "  what  passed  in  this 
dear  Sister  came  from  God."  He  gave  her  the  true 
reason  for  it:  "There  is  in  her  no  appearance  of  illu- 
sion; it  would  be  found  that  the  devil,  in  wishing  to 
deceive  her,  deceives  himself:  humility,  simplicity,  ex- 
act obedience,  and  mortification  are  not  the  fruits  of 
the  spirit  of  darkness."2  "By  this  advice,"  said  Mother 
Greyfie,  "  I  have  been  strongly  reassured;  for  in  what- 
ever way  I  have  taken  Sister  Margaret  Mary,  I  always 
found  her  in  the  faithful  practice  of  these  virtues  and 
the  exact  observance  of  our  holy  duties."8 

During  those  eight  or  ten  days  passed  at  Paray, 
Father  de  la  Colombiere  remarked,  as  he  wrote  to  Mother 

1  Letter  written  at  Lyons,  March  23. 

5  Contemp.,  p.  130.  3  Memoire  of  Mother  Greyfie. 


208  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque, 

de  la  Saumaise,  that  all  was  very  much  increased  during  his 
absence.  It  was  the  truth.  Mother  Greyfie's  severity 
had  made  resplendent  both  Margaret's  virtue  and  the 
divinity  of  her  sublime  revelations.  Her  boldness  in 
demanding  a  miracle  had  begun  to  crown  our  humble 
Margaret  with  the  aureola  of  the  saints.  Besides,,  it  is 
the  privilege  of  true  love  that  the  more  it  is  persecuted 
the  more  it  becomes  inflamed,  like  fire,  which  the  air 
fans  and  excites.  This  is  what  she  sang  in  her  novitiate 
days: 

"  The  more  they  contradict  my  love, 
The  more  that  love  inflames!" 

Checked  in  her  most  earnest  aspirations,  deprived  of 
those  exercises  that  would  satisfy  her  love  by  allowing 
it  expression,  Margaret  felt  her  passion  for  God  and  the 
Sacred  Heart  increase.  We  have  purposely  said  "  her 
passion,"  for  the  word  love^  so  sublime,  so  deep,  so  exces- 
sive when  there  is  question  of  the  majority  of  men,  ex- 
presses in  a  very  cold  manner  the  flame  enkindled  in  her 
heart.  To  sigh  after  contempt  and  humiliations,  to 
plunge  into  sufferings,  was  for  her  an  ordinary  thing. 
She  renewed  her  donation  of  self,  making  it  more  fully 
than  ever  before,  and  by  it  delivering  to  the  Heart  of 
Jesus  her  entire  being  in  the  present  and  in  the  future. 
It  was  in  these  sentiments  that  she  received  the  inspira- 
tion to  make  a  kind  of  last  will  and  testament,  in  which 
she  abandoned  to  the  Lord,  to  use  as  best  pleased  Him 
and  makeover  to  whom  He  wished,  not  only  her  prayers 
and  sufferings,  her  present  merits,  but  even  the  prayers 
and  holy  sacrifices  that  would  be  offered  for  her  after 
her  death;  thus  despoiling  herself  of  all  merit  in  favor 
of  Him  whom  alone  she  loved.  This  testament  con- 
ceived and  prepared,  she  had  the  courage  to  ask  Mother 
Greyfie  to  witness;  for,  as  she  said,  she  came  on  the 
part  of  the  Lord. 

Mother  Greyfie,  by  nature  little  given  to  such  acts, 
felt  the  importance   of   this  one,  and,  encouraged    by 


Father  de  la  Colombiere  returns  to  Par  ay.   209 

Father  de  la  Colombiere,  enlightened  by  the  miracle  of 
the  Sister's  cure  and  by  other  incidents  in  which  she 
had  experienced  her  power  with  God,  did  not  hesitate. 
She  herself  wrote  out  the  donation,  and  signed  this 
humble  formula:  "  Sister  Peronne-Rosalie  Greyfie,  at 
present  Superioress,  and  for  whom  Sister  Margaret 
Mary  daily  asks  conversion  with  the  grace  of  final  peni- 
tence." 

This  done,  Sister  Margaret  Mary  implored  Mother 
Greyfie  to  allow  her,  in  turn,  to  sign,  but  with  her 
blood.  The  Mother  having  assented,  Sister  Margaret 
Mary  went  to  her  cell,  bared  her  breast,  and,  imitating 
her  illustrious  and  saintly  foundress,  cut  with  a  knife 
the  name  of  Jesus  above  her  heart.  From  the  blood 
that  flowed  from  the  wound  she  signed  the  act  in  these 
words:  "  Sister  Margaret  Mary,  Disciple  of  the  Divine 
Heart  of  the  Adorable  Jesus." 

The  world  may  see  in  this  but  foolishness  and  excess. 
True;  but  it  corresponds  to  other  excesses  more  inex- 
plicable still:  here,  the  scourges  of  penance;  there,  the 
blows  of  flagellation;  here,  the  name  of  Jesus  written 
in  bloody  characters  on  the  breast;  there,  the  feet  and 
hands  of  the  Saviour  pierced,  His  Heart  opened.  Two 
follies  instead  of  one,  and  those  of  man  obliged  to  yield 
the  palm  to  those  of  God  !  But  if  worldlings  sometimes 
commit  similar  acts  of  foolishness  for  the  love  of  crea- 
tures, who  are  here  to-day  and  away  to-morrow,  and  who 
at  the  very  time  they  captivate  our  heart  possess  only  a 
shadow  of  perishable  beauty, — why  do  they  fail  to  com- 
prehend such  actions  in  regard  to  Him  who  is  infinite 
beauty,  and  whose  only  fault  lies  in  this,  that  He  hides 
Himself  under  a  veil  ? 

If  He  would  raise  it  for  a  moment,  the  sight  would  at 
once  disturb  our  reason,  and  we  should  all  experience 
those  extravagances  of  love,  now  the  happy  privilege  of 
only  a  few  choice  souls. 

The  Lord  expressed  His  pleasure  at  the  total  gift  that 


2io  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Margaret  had  made  of  herself:  "My  Divine  Master," 
she  wrote,  "  testified  to  me  great  satisfaction  at  this  act. 
He  told  me  that  since  His  love  had  stripped  me  of  every- 
thing, He  did  not  wish  that  I  should  have  any  other 
riches  than  those  of  His  Sacred  Heart.  'I  constitute 
thee,'  said  He  to  me, '  the  heiress  of  My  Heart  and  of  all 
its  treasures.  I  promise  thee  that  assistance  shall  never 
be  wanting  to  thee  till  power  is  wanting  to  Me.  Thou 
shalt  be  forever  its  well-beloved  disciple.'  " '  He  had 
a  word  also  for  Mother  Greyfie:  "  He  promised  to  grant 
her  the  same  grace  formerly  bestowed  upon  St.  Clare  of 
Montefalco;  to  clothe  her  actions  in  the  infinite  merits 
of  His  own;  and  on  account  of  the  love  she  had  mani- 
fested for  His  Sacred  Heart,  to  enable  her  to  merit  the 
same  crown." a  "  This  gave  me  great  consolation,"  Mar- 
garet Mary  adds,  "for  I  loved  her  much,  because  she 
nourished  my  soul  generously  with  the  delicious  bread 
of  mortification  and  humiliation." 

However,  in  the  midst  of  the  peace  and  joy  that  this 
great  act  had  procured  her,  the  generous  and  fervent 
Margaret  Mary  experienced  one  regret,  namely,  that  the 
letters  of  the  holy  name  of  Jesus,  which  she  had  en- 
graven on  her  heart  and  which  she  wished  to  be  as  last- 
ing- as  her  love,  began,  after  some  time,  to  grow  faint, 
and  to  disappear.  Resting  on  the  permission  that  she 
had  received,  she  tried  once  or  twice  to  renew  them  by 
opening  the  lines  with  a  knife;  but  not  succeeding  ac- 
cording to  her  liking,  she  determined  to  apply  fire. 
This  she  did,  but  so  incautiously  that  she  soon  had  rea- 
son to  fear  having  exceeded  the  limits  of  obedience. 
Trembling  and  humbled,  she  went  to  acknowledge  her 
fault.  Mother  Greyfie,  true  to  her  custom,  apparently 
paid  little  attention  to  what  Margaret  said,  but  ordered 
her  in  a  few  dry  words  to  go  to  the  infirmary  and 
show  her  wound  to  Sister  Augustine  Marest,  who  would 
dress  it.  Margaret  had  not  foreseen  this  increase  of 
1  M6moire,  p.  34g.  9  Ibid. 


Father  de  la  Colombtere  returns  to  Par  ay.   211 

humiliation.  Must  she,  then,  disclose  to  a  simple  Sister 
the  effects  of  love's  holy  ardor?  And  to  what  a  Sister! 
For  Sister  Augustine  Marest's  rough,  strong  nature  held 
such  things  in  very  low  estimation. 

Timid  and  blushing,  Margaret  Mary  went  to  complain 
to  the  Lord:  "  O  my  unique  Love,  wilt  Thou  suffer  that 
another  should  see  the  injury  I  have  done  myself  for 
love  of  Thee?  Art  Thou  not  sufficiently  powerful  to 
heal  me,  Thou  the  Sovereign  Remedy  of  all  my  evils  ?" 
Touched  by  her  affliction,  her  good  Master  promised 
that  she  should  be  cured  the  next  day.  This  indeed 
was  the  case;  for  next  day,  instead  of  bleeding  wounds, 
there  remained  only  large  scars.  Meanwhile,  Sister 
Madeleine  des  Escures  was  sent  to  Margaret  by  Mother 
Greyfie,  who  was  less  indifferent  than  she  seemed.  Pre- 
occupied with  the  thought  of  what  Margaret  had  told 
her,  she  deputed  this  Sister  to  examine  and  report  to  her 
the  gravity  of  the  statement.  Sister  des  Escures  accord- 
ingly asked  to  see  Margaret's  wounded  breast.  The 
latter,  knowing  herself  to  be  cured,  thought  herself  dis- 
pensed from  obeying,  thanked  the  Sister  graciously  for 
her  proffered  services,  but  refused  to  show  it.  It  was 
not  thus,  however,  that  Mother  Greyfie  understood  the 
matter.  Informed  of  Margaret's  refusal,  she  went  to 
her,  reproved  her  sharply  for  disobedience,  deprived  her 
of  holy  Communion  for  that  day, — "  which  was  for  me," 
says  Margaret,  "  the  severest  of  all  penances," — and  com- 
manded her  to  show  her  wounds  to  the  Sister.1  Sister 
Marie-Madeleine  des  Escures  found  them  healed,  though 
the  glorious  scars  were  visible.  The  deep  wounds  had 
disappeared,  but  the  large,  dry  crusts  forming  the  holy 
name  of  Jesus  were  still  there.  The  characters  were  of 
unusual  size  and  such  as  are  impressed  on  very  large 
books.2 

But  Mother  Greyfie's  displeasure  at  obedience  of  this 

1  Contemp.,  p.  140. 

2  Process  of  171 5,  Deposition  of  Sister  de  Farges. 


212  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

kind  was  nothing  compared  with  that  shown  Margaret 
by  the  Lord.  He  appeared  to  her  with  an  angry  air,  re- 
proached her  for  her  fault,  and  for  five  days  kept  her  at 
His  feet,  without  permitting  her  to  raise  her  eyes  for 
one  instant  to  His  Sacred  Heart.  "  I  saw  myself  ban- 
ished," she  said,  "  under  His  feet,  where  for  nearly  five 
days  I  did  nothing  but  bewail  my  disobedience,  and 
ask  pardon  by  continual  penances."  1  She  goes  on:  "In 
punishment  of  this  fault,  Jesus  told  me  that  the  impres- 
sion of  His  holy  name  on  my  heart  should  never  appear 
exteriorly."  And,  in  truth,  after  Margaret's  death  Sis- 
ter des  Escures,  who  had  beheld  the  deep  wounds,  had 
the  holy  curiosity  to  examine  whether  they  still  existed; 
but  there  was  no  trace  of  them.  "  You  were  well  in- 
spired," wrote  Mother  Greyfie,  who  was  then  at  Annecy, 
"  to  examine  whether  the  impression  of  the  holy  name 
of  Jesus  which  Margaret  had  engraven  on  her  heart 
remained.  And  that  you  assure  me  there  is  no  trace 
recognizable  is  to  me  a  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  the 
favors  vouchsafed  her.  For  I  know  that,  in  punish- 
ment of  a  certain  fault,  the  Lord  told  her  that  this 
sacred  name  should  not  appear  exteriorly."2 

Father  de  la  Colombiere's  health  was  not  re-estab- 
lished. He  grew  weaker  every  day.  The  lung  trouble 
contracted  in  the  London  prisons  were  little  by  little 
conducting  him  to  the  grave.  His  Superiors  sent  him 
to  Paray,  thinking  that  the  mild,  pure  air  of  that  little 
valley  would  be  favorable  to  him;  but,  in  reality,  he 
came  to  die.  His  last  sigh  was  to  be  a  last  approbation 
of  the  sublime  revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart;  and, 
like  a  faithful  witness  sleeping  at  the  feet  of  his  Master, 
his  bones  were  to  rest  near  the  altar  whereon  Jesus 
Christ  had  appeared.  He  arrived  at  Paray  in  the  be- 
ginning of  August,  1681,  and  there  his  last  six  months 
were  passed.  His  life  now  was  not  much  more  than  a 
breath;  but  that  breath  was  more  and  more  inflamed 
1  Memoire,  p.  362.  2  Contemp..  p.  143. 


Death  of  Father  de  la  Colombiere.       213 

with  the  pure  love  of  God.  He  occupied  himself  with 
the  establishment  of  a  hospital  for  the  poor.  His  efforts 
were  successful,  and  his  work  still  exists.  He  scattered 
around  him,  though  in  vague  terms  and  with  extreme 
reserve,  all  the  pious  practices  that  the  Lord  had  de- 
manded of  His  servant:  the  Holy  Hour,  Communion  on 
the  first  Friday  of  the  month,  and,  above  all,  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Friday  after  the  octave  of  Corpus  Christi. 
"  He  had  learned,"  he  said,  "from  a  very  holy  soul  that 
there  were  special  graces  for  those  who  would  be  faith- 
ful to  these  practices."  He  came  from  time  to  time  to 
say  Mass  at  the  Visitation,  on  that  altar  of  whose  extra- 
ordinary sanctity  he  was  almost  the  only  one  that  knew, 
and  in  secret  to  press  his  lips  on  that  stone  upon  which 
the  feet  of  the  Lord  had  rested.  More  rarely  still,  and 
very  discreetly,  he  visited  Margaret  Mary  in  the  parlor, 
to  reanimate  the  fervor  of  his  soul  and  carry  away  with 
him  a  greater  love  of  God. 

It  was  thus  his  life  came  to  a  close.  His  death  was 
somewhat  singular.  The  physicians,  seeing  that,  far 
from  improving,  he  grew  weaker  every  day,  advised 
him  to  return  to  his  brother's  home  in  Dauphiny.  His 
Superiors  consenting,  his  departure  was  fixed  for  Jan- 
uary 29,  1682.  But  to  spare  the  invalid  the  emotion  of 
adieux  to  his  numerous  penitents,  they  agreed  to  keep 
secret  the  day  appointed  for  his  departure.  Only  one 
pious  girl  whom  he  guided  and  who  was  a  friend  of 
Sister  Margaret  Mary,  Mile,  de  Bisefrand,  begged  an 
exemption  in  favor  of  the  latter.  Having  obtained  it, 
she  went  to  the  convent  to  inform  the  saint  of  the 
Father's  projected  departure  on  January  29th.  Sister 
Margaret  Mary  reflected  for  an  instant  and  then,  after 
a  moment's  silence,  commissioned  Mile,  de  Bisefrand 
to  go  to  Father  de  la  Colombiere  and  say  to  him  from 
her  that,  if  he  could  postpone  his  departure  without  in 
the  least  violating  the  orders  of  his  Superiors,  he  should 
not  set  out.     Either  fearing  that  her  commission  would 


214  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

not  be  properly  delivered,  or  not  wishing  to  confide  her 
secret  to  any  one,  "she  wrote  a  little  note  to  the  Father 
and  confided  its  delivery  to  Mile,  de  Bisefrand.  Now, 
this  little  note  delayed  the  Father's  plans,  and  he  died 
some  days  after." 

Shortly  after  its  receipt  his  fever  increased,  and  on 
February  15,  1682,  at  7  o'clock,  he  died  as  the  saints  die 
— holily  in  the  Lord. 

As  soon  as  she  heard  of  his  death,  Sister  Margaret 
Mary  tried  in  every  way  to  have  the  note  she  had  sent 
Father  de  la  Colombiere  returned  to  her.  She  sent 
Mile,  de  Bisefrand  for  it.  "  But  the  Father  Superior  of 
the  Jesuits,"  said  the  latter  in  her  deposition,  "  refused 
to  return  it.  He  made  me  read  it.  The  contents  were: 
*  He  has  told  me  that  He  wishes  the  sacrifice  of  your 
life  in  this  country.' " '  Another  witness,  Sister  de 
Lyonne,  confirms  this  fact,  and  adds  some  details. 
She  testified  that  she  knew  through  Rev.  Father  Bour- 
guignet,  then  Superior  of  the  Jesuits,  that  the  venera- 
ble Sister,  having  learned  that  Father  de  la  Colombiere's 
brother  had  come  to  take  him  to  his  native  air,  warned 
him  by  a  note  not  to  undertake  this  journey,  that  he 
had  something  of  more  consequence  to  do  soon,  and 
that  it  was  at  Paray  that  God  wished  the  sacrifice  of  his 
Jife.a  Other  attempts  were  again  made  by  Sister  Mar- 
garet Mary  to  have  returned  to  her  this  note  that  betrayed 
her  sanctity;  but  the  Superior  cut  them  short  by  de- 
claring that  he  would  rather  give  all  the  archives  of  the 
house  than  return  that  note.3 

God,  who  had  revealed  to  Margaret  Mary  the  death 
of  His  servant,  deigned  also  to  reveal  his  glory.  When 
Mile,  de  Bisefrand  went,  February  16th,  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  to  announce  Father  de  la  Colombiere's 
death,  which  had  taken   place  the  evening  before,  she 

1  Process  of  171 5,  Deposition  of  Mile,  de  Bisefrand. 

*  Process  of  171 5,  Deposition  of  Marie-Rosalie  de  Lyonne. 

8  Contemp.,  p.  155. 


Death  of  Father  de  la  Colombiere.       215 

could  utter  but  one  word.  "  Pray  and  get  prayers  every- 
where for  him."  "  But  at  one  o'clock  the  same  day," 
continues  the  latter  in  her  deposition,  "  I  received  from 
said  Sister  a  note  to  this  effect:  'Cease  to  grieve.  In- 
voke him;  fear  nothing.  He  is  more  powerful  to  assist 
you  than  ever.'  "  '  And  to  Mother  Greyfie,  who  was 
astonished  that  Sister  Margaret  Mary  had  not  asked 
to  impose  upon  herself  some  extraordinary  penances, 
her  usual  custom  on  the  death  of  her  acquaintances: 
"  Mother,"  said  she,  "  he  has  no  need  of  them.  He  is  in 
a  state  to  pray  for  us,  being,  through  the  goodness  and 
mercy  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ, 
well  fixed  in  heaven.  Merely  to  satisfy  for  some  negli- 
gence in  the  exercise  of  divine  love,  his  soul  was  de- 
barred the  sight  of  God  from  the  time  it  left  the  body 
until  the  moment  it  was  laid  in  the  tomb."2 

This  was  not  the  only  revelation  that  Margaret  Mary 
had  of  the  supernal  happiness  of  her  holy  director. 
Some  time  after  she  had  a  celebrated  vision,  in  which 
God  showed  her,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  the  glory 
of  Father  de  la  Colombiere  and  the  double  and  distinc- 
tive mission  confided  to  the  Visitation  and  the  Society 
of  Jesus  relative  to  the  Sacred  Heart.  This  page  is  of 
the  first  importance  in  the  history  we  are  writing. 

"  He  was,  it  seemed  to  me,"  wrote  Margaret  Mary,  "  in 
a  place  very  high  and  spacious,  admirable  for  its  beauty. 
In  the  centre  of  it  was  a  throne  of  flames  upon  which 
was  the  loving  Heart  of  Jesus,  its  wound  shedding 
forth  rays  so  fiery  and  luminous  that  the  whole  place 
was  lighted  and  heated  by  them.  The  most  Blessed 
Virgin  was  on  one  side,  and  our  holy  Father  St. 
Francis  de  Sales  on  the  other,  with  Father  de  la  Colom- 
biere. The  daughters  of  the  Visitation,  each  holding  a 
heart  in  her  hand,  were  there  also,  their  guardian 
angels  at  their  side. 

1  Process  of  171 5,  Deposition  of  Mile,  de  Bisefrand. 
'  Contemp.,  p.  155. 


*l6  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

"The  Blessed  Virgin  spoke: '  Come,  my  beloved  daugh- 
ters/ she  said,  '  approach,  for  I  wish  to  make  you  the 
depositaries  of  this  precious  treasure? 

"  And  showing  them  the  Divine  Heart,  she  said:  '  Be- 
hold this  precious  treasure.  It  is  especially  manifested 
to  you  on  account  of  the  tender  love  my  Son  has  for 
your  Institute,  which  He  regards  and  loves  as  His  dear 
Benjamin.  For  this  reason,  He  exacts  more  from  it  than 
from  all  others.  It  must  not  only  enrich  itself  with  this 
inexhaustible  treasure,  but  endeavor  with  all  its  power 
to  distribute  abundantly  this  precious  money  and  try 
to  enrich  the  whole  world  with  it.'  " 

Thus,  according  to  the  wording  of  this  revelation, 
God  created  the  Visitation  to  guard  the  precious  deposit 
of  the  Sacred  Heart,  to  be  a  fervent,  recollected  sanc- 
tuary, in  which  they  shall  contemplate  incessantly  the 
Heart  of  Jesus,  in  which  every  soul  may  enrich  herself 
from  its  inexhaustible  treasury.  This  is  the  first  end  of 
the  Institute.  But  this  is  not  all.  If  the  Visitation 
does  not  do  this,  it  will  fail  in  its  mission.  The 
knowledge  and  love  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  which  it  con- 
templates in  the  sweetness  of  prayer,  it  must  propagate 
beyond  its  grates,  that  its  light  may  shine  everywhere. 
//  must,  to  the  full  extent  of  its  power,  distribute  it,  give  it 
abundantly  to  the  world.  It  is  not  a  favor  that  God  con- 
fers upon  it,  it  is  an  order  that  He  gives  it.  It  mustj 
that  is  to  say,  God  restores  to  it,  under  a  new  form, 
its  first  vocation.  It  again  becomes  a  Visitation.  But, 
instead  of  carrying  food  and  clothing  to  the  poor,  it 
must  carry  to  souls:  to  virgins  hidden  in  solitude;  to 
apostles  exhausting  their  strength  in  the  labor  of 
preaching;  to  priests  and  bishops  who  grow  gray  with 
the  sad  thought  ever  before  them  of  the  multitude  of 
sinners  that  are  lost; — the  Visitation  must,  we  say, 
carry  to  them  the  light,  the  consolation,  the  sublime 
strength  that  flows  abundantly  from  the  Sacred  Heart. 
Behold  why  God  has  instituted  the  Visitation!     Behold 


Death  of  Father  de  la  Colombtere.        2i*f 

the  mission  He  gives  it!  For  the  rest,  silence,  forget- 
fulness,  the  hidden  life;  and  for  the  Sacred  Heart,  an 
incessant  promulgation,  an  apostolic  flame. 

Such  is  the  first  part  of  this  vision.  The  second  is 
not  less  memorable. 

"  Then  turning  toward  Father  de  la  Colombiere,  the 
Mother  of  mercy  addressed  him:  'And  thou,  faithful 
servant  of  my  Divine  Son,  thou  hast  a  great  part  in  this 
precious  treasure;  for  if  it  is  given  to  the  daughters  of 
the  Visitation  to  make  it  known  and  loved,  and  to  dis- 
tribute it  to  others,  it  is  reserved  to  the  Fathers  of  thy 
Society  to  make  the  value  and  utility  of  it  understood, 
so  that  they  may  profit  by  gratefully  receiving  a  benefit 
so  immense.  In  proportion  as  they  shall  console  the 
Heart  of  Jesus,  that  Divine  Heart,  fruitful  source  of 
graces  and  benedictions,  will  pour  itself  out  so  abun- 
dantly on  the  functions  of  their  ministry  that  they  will 
produce  fruits  above  their  hopes  and  labors;  and  the 
same  for  the  perfection  and  salvation  of  each  one  of 
them  in  particular.' " 

Thus,  whilst  the  Visitation  shall  guard  the  deposit  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  and  distribute  it  through  its  grates  to 
enrich  the  world,  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  will 
be  its  teachers,  its  preachers,  its  doctors,  to  prepare  the 
way  for  it.  Catechists,  preachers,  apologists,  apostles, 
and,  if  need  be,  martyrs  of  the  Sacred  Heart — this  is  to 
be  their  part.  Let  not  other  religious  Orders  envy 
them  their  privilege;  for  each  has  had  its  own.  When, 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  God  inspired  an  humble  religious 
to  exalt,  more  than  preceding  ages  had  done,  devotion 
to  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  He  called  to  serve  and  aid 
Him,  as  mouth-piece,  as  speaking-trumpet,  the  Order 
of  St.  Dominic.  After  having  established  it  the  Order  of 
the  Holy  Rosary,  He  made  of  it  the  Order  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist;  and  far  on  to  the  threshold  of  eternity  the 
vaults  of  our  cathedrals  will  re-echo  the  Dominican 
hymns,  Lauda  Sion  and   Tantum  Ergo.     In  like  manner, 


218  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

when  God  desired  that  Christians  should  wear  on  theii 
breast,  as  a  buckler,  the  name  and  habit  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  He  chose  the  Order  of  Carmel,  and  commis- 
sioned it  to  propagate  in  the  world  and  distribute  every- 
where the  holy  Scapular.  He  had  previously  confided  to 
the  children  of  St.  Francis  the  devotion  to  the  Cross  and 
to  the  Five  Wounds  of  Our  Saviour.  It  was  necessary 
for  each  Order,  in  its  laborious  mission,  to  have  its 
arms,  its  banner,  its  means  of  action,  and  its  burning 
flame.  However,  that  which  belongs  to  some  is  not  so 
exclusively  theirs  that  it  cannot  belong  to  all;  for  of 
the  love  of  Jesus,  still  more  than  of  a  mother's  love,  can 
we  say  with  the  poet: 

"  Each  has  his  own  share,  and  all  possess  it  entire." 

Let  us  not  be  jealous  of  one  another.  In  the  grand 
army  of  Jesus  Christ,  let  us  hold  aloft  our  standard, 
and  desire  only  the  happiness  of  making  more  con- 
quests. 

Father  de  la  Colombiere's  death  took  place  February 
15,  1682.  It  was  the  same  year  in  which  was  held  at 
Paris  the  famous  assembly  of  the  French  clergy  con- 
voked by  Louis  XIV.  to  consider  the  dangers  menacing 
Christendom.  All  were  there  united:  power,  genius* 
eloquence,  experience,  popularity.  And  to  what  did 
such  efforts  amount  ?  Their  declaration  in  four  ar- 
ticles, whose  least  words  have  been  so  studied,  so  care- 
fully weighed,  so  skilfully  connected — to  what  purpose 
have  they  served  ?  Only  to  increase,  instead  of  avert- 
ing, the  danger.  Whilst  that  assembly  was  being  held, 
an  humble  virgin  in  the  solitude  of  an  obscure  convent, 
directed  by  a  poor  religious,  saw  the  true  evil  that 
desolated  the  Church  and  society,  and  prepared  herself 
to  show  the  world  the  only  remedy  for  it. 

Meanwhile  Mother  Greyfie's  six  years  of  Superiority 
were  nearing  their  term.  She  was  to  leave  the  convent 
of  Paray  for  that  of  Lemur  in  Auxerre,  where  she  had 
been  elected   Superioress.     The   Community  of   Paray 


Death  of  Father  de  la  Colombiere.       219 

must  think  of  replacing  her.  For  the  last  eighteen 
years  the  Sisters  of  Paray  had  sought  a  Superioress 
beyond  their  own  home.  Paris  had  sent  them  Mother 
Hersant;  Dijon,  Mother  de  Saumaise;  and  to  Annecy 
they  were  indebted  for  Mother  Greyfie.  ,  This  time 
they  thought  of  seeking  a  good  Superioress  among 
themselves.  Their  unanimous  choice  fell  on  a  Sister 
who  had  edified  the  Community  of  Paray  for  four-and- 
thirty  years.  The  only  reproach  that  could  be  made  to 
Mother  Marie-Christine  Melin,  whom  they  elected,  was 
that  she  was  too  kind — not  a  bad  thing  after  the  rather 
severe  reign  of  Mother  Greyfie.  But  she  was  pious 
and,  moreover,  dearly  loved  by  our  saint,  whom  for  a 
long  time  she  had  understood  and  almost  divined,  and 
with  whom  she  shared  all  the  new  devotions.  Her 
first  act  was  to  nominate  Margaret  Mary  Assistant;  and 
shortly  after,  "  as  the  incomparable  sweetness  of  Mother 
Marie-Christine  diffused  a  delicious  peace  in  the  sacred 
desert  of  holy  religion,"  '  and  novices  came  flocking  in, 
she  confided  to  her  the  care  of  forming  them  to  virtue. 
It  was  there,  in  that  little  novitiate,  in  the  midst  of  six  or 
seven  young  novices,  pure  as  angels  and  all  inflamed 
with  love  of  God,  that  was  to  escape  from  the  heart  of 
Margaret  the  secret  of  love  hidden  therein  for  nine 
V^ears. 

1  Manuscript  Annals  of  the  Convent  of  Paray. 


220  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  SAINTLY  SISTER  AMONG  HER  NOVICES— THE 
SECRET  OF  THE  SUBLIME  REVELATIONS  ESCAPES 
HER  IN  SPITE  OF  HERSELF— FIRST  PUBLIC  ADORA- 
TION  OF   THE   SACRED   HEART. 

1684-1685. 

"  Adjuro  vos,  filiae  Jerusalem,  si  inveneritis  dilectum  meum,  ut  nun- 
tietis  ei  quia  amore  langueo. " 

"I  adjure  you,  O  daughters  of  Jerusalem,  if  you  find  my  beloved, 
that  you  tell  him  that  I  languish  with  love." — Cant.  v.  8. 

"  Adducentur  regi  virgines  post  earn.  Afferentur  in  laetitia  et  ex- 
nltatione;  adducentur  in  templum  regis." 

"  After  her  shall  virgins  be  brought  to  the  king.  They  shall  be 
brought  with  gladness  and  rejoicing:  they  shall  be  brought  into  the 
temple  of  the  king." — Psalm  xliv.  15,  16. 

tN  appointing  Sister  Margaret  Mary  mistress  of 
novices,  Mother  Melin  had  yielded  less  to  her  own 
attraction  than  to  the  requests  made  her  by  all 
around.  The  sanctity  of  the  humble  Margaret  Mary 
was  becoming  known.  Some  young  professed,  about  to 
leave  the  novitiate,  expressed  their  willingness  to  re- 
main if  she  were  given  to  them  for  mistress;  and  some 
older  religious  solicited  on  the  same  condition  the  favor 
of  returning.  Even  one  or  two  novices  who  had  had 
the  happiness  of  conversing  with  her  profited  by  the 
kindness  of  Mother  Melin  humbly  to  express  their 
desire.  They  were  nearing  the  hour  in  which  Mar- 
garet's sanctity  was  to  pierce  the  last  clouds.1 

Let  us  see  who  composed  the  novitiate  when  Margaret 
Mary- assumed  its  direction. 

The  eldest  of  the  novices,  Claude-Marguerite   Billiet 
1  Process  of  1715,  Deposition  of  Sister  de  Farges. 


The  Saintly  Sister  among  her  Novices.     221 

©1  Paray,  was  the  daughter  of  a  physician,  "  the  most 
famous  of  the  province,"  '  he  who,  at  all  hours,  was  by 
the  pillow  of  the  saintly  invalid,  and  who  assisted  at 
her  deathbed.  Full  of  pleasantry  and  good-humor  in 
the  world,  Claude-Marguerite  became  in  the  cloister 
"  a  purely  interior  soul,"  "  a  daughter  of  prayer  and 
silence,  whose  union  with  God  and  ardor  for  holy 
Communion  cannot  be  described."  She  was  so  on  fire 
with  the  divine  flames  of  the  Eucharist  that  she  would 
have  overwhelmed  herself  with  austerities  for  God's 
sake,  had  she  been  permitted.  Her  hunger  after  them 
was  insatiable,  and  the  sweetest  pleasure  one  could 
afford  her  was  to  grant  them  to  her;  they  were  the 
most  delicious  refreshment.  Bound  in  friendship  with 
Margaret  Mary,  enthusiastic  over  her  virtues,  she  joy- 
fully put  herself  under  her  direction,  and  began  to  run 
with  ardor  in  the  odor  of  her  perfumes.  She  was  one 
of  the  first  to  comprehend  and  relish  devotion  to  the 
Sacred  Heart,  one  of  the  first  to  plunge  into  the  love  of 
the  Adorable  Heart,  and  she  was  not  slow  in  being 
consumed  by  its  flames.2 

The  second  novice  was  Francoise-Rosalie  Verchere. 
She,  too,  was  the  daughter  of  a  physician,  and  one  of 
thirteen  brothers  and  sisters,  all  of  whom,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  two,  consecrated  themselves  to  God.  Called 
to  the  religious  life,  but  not  knowing  into  what  Order, 
Francoise,  more  than  usually  agitated,  was  walking  one 
day  in  a  very  pleasant  garden  belonging  to  one  of  her 
relatives.  She  entered  a  summer-house  and,  to  dispel 
her  weariness,  opened  a  book  that  was  lying  on  the 
table.  Happily,  it  was  the  life  of  our  venerable  Mother 
de  Chantal,  and  Francoise  opened  at  the  page  that 
records  how  the  Celestial  Lover  had  engraven  His 
name  on  St.  de  Chantal's  heart.  At  that  selfsame 
moment  He  impressed  Himself  so  strongly  on  that  of 

1  Circular  of  March  23,  1725. 

2  Abridgment   of  the  Life  and  Virtues  of  Sister  Claude-Marguerite 
Billiet. 


222  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

this  young  lover  that,  feeling  violently  attracted  by 
His  divine  fire,  she  resolved  to  become  a  daughter  of 
the  Visitation.1  Mother  Greyfie  joyfully  received  her, 
and  did  not  spare  her  trials  to  test  her  courage.  Seeing 
her  valiant  and  intrepid  under  them,  she  resolved  to 
lead  her  to  the  summit  of  perfection.  We  may  say  that 
there  was  scarcely  any  height  which  Francoise  did  not 
ascend.  Her  chief  attraction  was  the  practice  of  the 
almost  uninterrupted  presence  of  God,  whence  sprang 
angelic  modesty  and  recollection.  Her  exterior  alone 
inspired  devotion.  They  compared  her  to  St.  Catherine 
of  Genoa.  Margaret  Mary  loved  her  tenderly,  and  pre- 
dicted one  day  that  it  would  be  in  her  arms  that  she 
would  die.  This  prediction  was  realized,  as  we  shall 
see,  in  a  wonderful  manner  and  contrary  to  all  expecta- 
tion. "  As  if  the  fire  and  ardor  of  the  dying  saint  were 
poured  into  the  heart  of  our  dear  Sister  Francoise* 
Rosalie  Verchere,  having  no  longer  the  support  of  this 
incomparable  and  virtuous  friend,  she  gave  herself  up 
entirely  to  the  power  of  divine  love,  and  on  November 
5,  1690,  at  the  age  of  five-and-twenty,  made  a  vow  to  do 
all  that  she  knew  to  be  most  perfect.  Very  far  from 
being  embarrassed  by  her  chains,  she  found  them  all  her 
life  infinitely  amiable.  Nothing  cost  her;  and  as  God 
loves  generous  souls,  He  poured  so  many  consolations 
into  her  heart  that,  in  the  midst  of  crosses  and  auster- 
ities the  recital  of  which  makes  one  tremble,  she  swam 
as  if  in  a  stream  of  peace." a 

Sister  Verchere  had  a  sister  younger  than  herself, 
also  a  novice,  Peronne-Marguerite  Verchere,  whose 
biography  we  have  not  been  able  to  find.  She  was  very 
fervent,  lively,  and  intelligent.  At  first  she  disputed 
a  little  with  God  the  full  possession  of  her  heart.  It 
was  she  who,  speaking  of  Margaret  Mary,  said  one  day 

1  Circular  of  March  23,  1725. 

2  Ibid.     Abridgment  of  the  Life  and  Virtues  of  Sister  Francoise- 
Rosalie  Verchere. 


The  Saintly  Sister  among  her  Novices.     223 

to  her  sister:  "  Let  us  take  care,  else  she'll  make  us  more 
pious  than  we  wish  to  be." 

Francoise-Rosalie  Verchere  had  a  companion,  born 
like  herself  at  Marcigny,  and  led  by  her  example  to  the 
Visitation.  She  was  called  Peronne-Rosalie  de  Farges. 
Friends  in  the  world,  yet  more  so  in  the  cloister;  novices 
together,  and  both  disciples  tenderly  loved  by  Blessed 
Margaret  Mary,  they  held  her  when  dying,  their  arms 
entwined  about  her.  They  guarded  her  memory;  they 
collected  and  preserved  her  letters;  they  wrote  her  life. 
They  are  deserving  of  our  eternal  gratitude,  especially 
Peronne-Rosalie  de  Farges,  who  prevented  Margaret 
Mary  from  throwing  into  the  fire  her  invaluable  Me- 
moire,  as  she  had  done  all  her  other  writings.  Peronne's 
act  thus  preserved  to  the  Church  the  crowning  monu- 
ments of  Margaret's  sanctity,  and  the  only  one,  per- 
haps, that  gives  us  to  know  a  little  the  greatness  of  her 
soul. 

At  the  age  of  seven  Peronne-Rosalie  de  Farges  made 
a  vow  of  chastity.  Shortly  after,  under  the  direction  of 
Father  de  la  Colombiere,  who  prepared  her  for  it,  she 
made  her  first  Communion,  "  like  an  angel."  She  en- 
tered the  Visitation  at  sixteen,  in  spite  of  the  opposition 
of  her  family,  one  of  the  best  and  richest  of  the  country. 
From  her  entrance  she  was  confided  to  Margaret  Mary, 
whom  she  closely  imitated  in  the  greatness  of  her  cour- 
age and  heroic  virtue.  Like  her  she  had  engraved  on 
her  heart  the  holy  name  of  Jesus,  to  testify  to  God  the 
vehemence  of  her  love.  She  plunged  so  deeply  into  that 
holy  love,  she  exercised  on  herself  such  cruelties,  and 
practised  such  charity  toward  her  neighbor, — for  "to 
that  noble  end  she  turned  her  too  fiery  temperament," — 
that  she  made  continual  progress  in  perfection.  Though 
so  closely  imitating  the  actions  of  her  holy  mistress 
she  still  preserved  her  own  individuality.  "  For  a  long 
time  she  was  regarded  by  her  companions  as  a  St. 
Jerome,  who  granted  nothing  to  nature,  neither  to  her- 


224  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

self  nor  to  others.     In  this  she  differed  from  our  saint- 
ly        Sister  Margaret  Mary,  whose  demeanor  was  gentle 
and  humble,  as  if  seeking  the  centre  of  her  own  nothing- 
ness; who  never  censured  any  one;  and  who  insensibly 
gained  hearts  by  the  honey  of  her  words." 

We  cannot  recount  the  numerous  victories  Peronne 
gained  over  her  sprightly  and  ardent  temper,  having 
taken  for  device,  "To  conquer  or  to  die."  She  saw 
nothing  but  duty,  and  like  a  heroine  she  tried  to  fulfil 
it.  The  sword  was  ever  in  her  hand  to  conquer  her 
passions,  which  would  have  been  very  turbulent  had 
she  not  repressed  them.  She  came  out  so  victorious 
from  the  struggle  that,  at  the  close  of  her  life,  "  she 
passed  in  the  town  for  a  second  Margaret  Mary,"  and 
when  she  died  "  the  people  ran  to  her  funeral  to  see  the 
saint." ■ 

To  the  four  novices  to  whom  we  have  now  introduced 
our  readers  we  must  add  three  others  not  unworthy  of 
a  place  in  society  so  holy  and  so  amiable:  Marie-Fran- 
coise  Bocaud  de  la  Clayette,  who  died  young,  leaving  us 
few  reminiscences;  Marie-Christine  Bouthier  de  Semur 
en  Brionnais,  whose  religious  life  was  inaugurated  by 
a  miracle.  Having  suffered  during  her  novitiate  from 
weakness  so  great  that  she  appeared  to  be  pining  away, 
she  received  from  Margaret  on  her  profession  day  the 
command  to  ask  God  for  her  cure.  Pale  and  debili- 
tated, Marie-Christine  prostrated  under  the  pall,  and 
rose  from  beneath  it  full  of  strength  and  vigor,  her 
countenance  glowing  with  the  hue  of  health.  Marie- 
Nicole  de  la  Faige  des  Claines  was  the  seventh,  and  she 
left  in  the  Community  a  memory  both  sweet  and  last- 
ing. She  was  Margaret  Mary's  child  of  predilection, — 
her  "little  St.  Louis  of  Gonzaga,"  as  she  called  her. 
u  Beautiful  and  graceful;  looked  upon  in  her  family  as  a 

1  Circular  of  March  23,  1725.  Abridgment  of  the  Life  and  Virtues 
of  our  dear  Sister  Peronne- Rosalie  de  Farges.  See,  also,  Annee 
Sainte,  vol.  v.  p.  282. 


Picture  of  the   Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  as  originally  painted  at 

the  Novitiate  of  Paray-le-Monial  in  1685,  and  presented  in 

1738  to  the  Convent  at  Turin,  where  it  is  still  preserved. 


The  Saintly  Sister  among  her  Novices.     225 

little  prodigy;  flattered  by  her  parents,  whose  house  she 
ruled  at  the  age  of  ten;  idolized  by  her  grandmother, 
— great  was  the  astonishment  when,  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen, she  asked  to  enter  the  Visitation,  and  with  such 
persistence  that  the  permission  had  to  be  granted."  At 
fifteen  she  took  the  holy  habit,  and  began  her  noviceship 
under  the  direction  of  Margaret  Mary.  Such  were  her 
fervor  and  angelic  modesty  that  our  saint,  so  strict  and 
so  enlightened,  allowed  her  to  pronounce  her  vows  at 
the  age  of  sixteen,  and  she  herself  placed  the  sacred 
veil  on  her  head.  Shortly  after,  though  so  young,  she 
made  a  vow  to  do  what  was  most  perfect.  Full  of  talent, 
of  grace,  of  sweetness,  skilled  in  every  sort  of  employ- 
ment, she  did  everything  with  ravishing  tranquillity. 
Her  innocence  and  candor  were  remarkable.  She  was 
so  like  an  angel  that  her  companions  used  to  say  laugh- 
ingly that  God  had  lent  her  a  body.  This  was,  perhaps, 
the  foundation  of  the  predilection  Margaret  always  had 
for  her.  Most  delicate  privilege,  which  recalls  that  of 
the  beloved  disciple,  and  forms  the  most  beautiful  eulo- 
gium  of  this  dear  novice.  At  the  moment  of  death 
Margaret  Mary  sent  for  her,  "  wishing  to  have  this  little 
angel  at  her  pillow."1 

In  the  midst  of  these  young  novices,  we  must  rank 
apart  a  religious  older  than  they.  Though  professed 
in  1680,  and  having  already  filled  some  important 
charges  in  the  house,  she  so  earnestly  solicited  permis- 
sion to  return  to  the  novitiate,  that  good  Mother  Melin 
knew  not  how  to  refuse  her.  This  was  Sister  Anne- 
Alexis  de  Mareschalle,  a  singularly  grand  soul.  She 
had  been  born  in  Calvinism,  of  one  of  the  oldest  and 
noblest  families.  Dissatisfied  with  the  course  of  things, 
its  members,  through  a  spirit  of  opposition  and  the  hope 
of  reform,  threw  themselves  into  heresy.  When  her 
father,  who  wished  to  return  to  the  true  faith,  which  he 
lef*  *nly  through  complaisance  to  his  wife,  was  dead; 
Circular  of  April  17,  1746.     Ann6e  Sainte,  vol.  ix.  p.  727, 


226  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque, 

and  when  the  latter,  who  had  violently  opposed  her 
weak  husband's  conversion, had,  through  the  persuasive 
voice  of  Father  de  la  Colombiere,  abjured  heresy;  in 
order  to  induce  her  daughter  Anne-Alexis  to  follow  her 
example,  she  took  her  secretly  to  the  Visitation  under 
pretext  of  placing  her  there  as  a  pupil.  The  child,  per- 
ceiving her  mother's  design,  burst  into  a  fury.  She 
poured  out  torrents  of  abuse,  and  laying  her  head  on 
the  trunk  of  a  tree,  cried  out  with  all  her  strength: 
"  Cut  off  my  head.  I  would  rather  die  than  be  made  a 
papist  and  remain  with  these  wolves  and  demons  of  re- 
ligious." The  Sisters  thought  for  a  time  that  they 
would  be  obliged  to  send  the  child  back  to  her  mother. 
She  scoffed  at  everything.  When  in  church,  she  turned 
her  back  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament;  when  in  the  garden, 
she  climbed  the  highest  trees,  and  throwing  a  rope  on 
the  walls,  tried  to  scale  them.  Such  she  was  then: 
ardent,  energetic,  passionate;  such  she  was  on  the  day 
of  her  conversion  and  abjuration.  True  stroke  of 
Heaven!  It  was  not  enough  for  her  to  be  a  religious; 
she  flung  herself  headlong  and  fearlessly  into  what  was 
highest  and  holiest  in  religion  or  most  appalling  in  vir- 
tue. Mother  Greyfie  did  not  spare  her  trials,  "  giving 
her  even  extraordinary  ones,  but  they  cost  Sister  Anne- 
Alexis  nothing  at  all."  Never  was  she  more  joyous  than 
when  most  overwhelmed  by  them.  Were  we  to  detail 
the  austerities  that  she  imposed  upon  herself,  their 
number  would  be  almost  infinite.  She  never  laid  aside 
her  iron  cincture,  not  even  when  watching  by  the  sick, 
helping  in  the  washing,  or  performing  other  labors  yet 
more  painful.  She  sang  the  entire  Office  with  this  in- 
strument of  penance  around  her  waist;  she  even  slept 
with  it,  "  so  natural  to  her  were  corporal  macerations." 
With  all  this,  she  exhibited  the  greatest  contentment. 
A  certain  joyousness  shone  in  her  countenance,  and 
glided  into  her  conversation,  which  was  always  gay  and 
holily  recreative.     She    composed    couplets   and   very 


The  Saintly  Sister  among  her  Novices.     227 

beautiful  canticles  to  animate  herself  to  new  fervor. 
She  was  the  bestjfriend  in  the  world,  and  the  most  obedi- 
ent of  daughters  to  her  Superioress;  for  she  was  like  a 
ball  of  wax  in  the  hands  of  God  and  of  those  who  held 
His  place.  It  was  she  whom  "  they  could  put  into  all 
employments  great  and  small,  without  either  elevating 
or  lowering  her."  She  had  been  a  religious  seven 
years  when  she  asked  to  return  to  the  novitiate,  where 
she  was  the  astonishment  and  spur  of  the  young  Sisters. 
Such  was  the  novitiate  of  Paray  at  the  time  that  Mar- 
garet Mary  assumed  its  direction,  such  were  the  souls 
confided  to  her  care.  They  were  worthy  of  having  a 
saint  for  mistress;  and  she,  inflamed  with  the  love  of 
God,  and  desirous  of  enkindling  it  in  all  breasts,  could 
not  wish  for  material  better  prepared.  Indeed,  hardly 
had  she  entered  upon  her  charge  when,  to  use  the  ex- 
pression of  the  old  Memoires,  she  "  enkindled  the  fire  of 
divine  love  in  all  those  hearts  so  well  disposed."  '  She 
animated  them  by  her  words,  whilst  her  example  led 
them  to  emulate  her.  Sometimes  she  simply  explained 
to  them  the  Rule  or  the  observances,  but  in  such 
atone,  with  unction  so  penetrating,  that  every  difficulty 
seemed  at  once  to  disappear.  "  Although,"  said  Sister 
de  Farges,  "we  had  learned  all  these  observances  from 
three  mistresses  who  had  preceded  her,  our  venerable 
Sister  explained  them  to  us  with  a  clearness  and  unc- 
tion altogether  heavenly.  Her  words  seemed  to  flow 
from  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  they  delightfully  facilitated 
virtue."2  "  Sometimes  she  spoke  to  them  of  the  love  of 
God.  But,"  says  Sister  Verchere,  "  He  whom  she  had 
on  her  lips  was  nothing  compared  to  Him  whom  she  had 
in  her  heart.  Hers  was  a  passionate  love  for  God.  At 
every  instant  she  gave  utterance  to  such  cries  as:  'Oh, 
if  you  knew  how  sweet  it  is  to  love  God!  Oh,  what  is 
there  that  we  cannot  cheerfully  suffer  for  the  love  of 
our  neighbor!'  She  returned  so  frequently  to  this  point 
1  Circular  of  March  23,  1725.  5  lb. 


228  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

that  we  compared  her  to  the  beloved  disciple,  St.  John 
the  Evangelist.  The  ardor  of  her  charity  inflamed  her 
with  the  purest  zeal,  and  she  often  said  that  she  would 
willingly  suffer  every  torment  to  save  one  soul." ' 
Again,  it  was  on  humility  or  self-forgetfulness  that  she 
entertained  her  novices.  But  "  her  sweet  and  lowly 
exterior,  abased  even  to  the  centre  of  her  nothingness," 
spoke  more  eloquently  than  any  discourse.  "  It  was  a 
pleasure,"  says  Sister  des  Claines,  "  to  see  her  reproved 
by  her  Superioress.  It  would  be  impossible  to  receive 
a  correction  with  truer  humility.  The  tears  that  she 
shed  over  her  least  faults  impressed  the  beholder  with 
the  idea  that  she  was  dead  to  self-love  and  absolutely 
given  up  to  the  love  of  God."  2 

Ordinarily  she  spoke  to  them  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 
She  so  timid,  and  who,  "  through  natural  reserve,  never 
mentioned  a  word  about  it  to  the  Community,  nor  to 
her  friends,  of  whom  she  counted  a  large  number,  nor 
even  to  the  Superioress  or  ordinary  confessor,"3  gave 
free  vent  to  her  heart  in  the  midst  of  this  amiable  and 
pious  band.  Without  saying  anything  of  the  revela- 
tions with  which  she  had  been  honored,  but  upon  which 
she  maintained  inviolable  silence,  she  spoke  to  them 
of  the  Adorable  Heart  of  Jesus,  of  its  beauty,  of  the 
treasures  it  contains,  of  the  graces  with  which  it  will 
inundate  those  that  study,  adore,  and  love  it.  She 
could  say  all  that  without  betraying  herself.  In  speak- 
ing thus,  she  was  imitating  her  Father,  St.  Francis  de 
Sales:  and  who  has  spoken  better  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus 
than  he  ?  She  was  imitating,  likewise,  her  Mother  St. 
de  Chantal:  and  who  has  more  piously  contemplated 
and  comprehended  the  beauty  of  Jesus'  Heart  than  she 
and  the  first  Mothers  of  the  Visitation  ?  In  speaking 
thus,  Margaret  Mary  went  not  beyond  the  purest  spirit, 
the  most  venerable  traditions  of  her  Order. 

1  Ann6e  Sainte,  vol.  ix.  p.  215. 

9  Circular  of  April  17,  1746.  3  lb. 


The  Saintly    Sister  among  her  Novices.      229 

God  seemed,  besides,  to  multiply  at  this  time  His 
revelations  to  her.  She  understood  more  and  more 
clearly  the  Adorable  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  it  imparted  to 
her  words  that  warmth,  that  light,  that  fire  which  rises 
without  effort  to  the  lips  of  an  emotional  and  enthu- 
siastic person.  They  recall  the  character  of  the  sub- 
limest  revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart, — the  Lord  ap- 
pearing to  her  in  glory  on  the  altar,  His  breast  open, 
and  His  Heart  palpitating  with  love.  Later,  as  if  God 
had  wished  to  concentrate  her  regards  on  the  Heart 
itself,  it  began  to  appear  to  her  alone,  on  a  throne,  and 
amid  dazzling  light.  "Once,"  said  she,  "the  divine 
Heart  was  represented  to  me  on  a  throne  of  fire  and 
flames,  transparent  as  crystal,  more  brilliant  than  the 
sun,  and  radiating  beams  on  all  sides.  The  wound  it 
received  on  the  cross  was  visible.  Around  the  Sacred 
Heart  was  a  crown  of  thorns,  and  above  it  a  cross." 

"The  Lord,"  she  adds,  "assured  me  that  He  takes 
particular  pleasure  in  being  honored  under  the  figure  of 
His  Heart  of  flesh.  He  wished  a  picture  of  it  to  be 
publicly  exposed,  that  it  might  touch  the  insensible 
hearts  of  men;  and  He  promised  me  that  He  would 
pour  out  abundantly  on  all  that  honored  it  the  treas- 
ures of  grace  with  which  it  is  filled.  Wherever  this  im- 
age shall  be  exposed,  it  will  bring  down  all  sorts  of 
benedictions." ' 

At  another  time  Margaret  Mary  had  a  still  clearer  reve- 
lation. To  excite  her  to  ask  with  more  importunity  for 
the  adoration  of  men,  God  made  her  contemplate  the 
adorations  of  the  angels.  "  One  day,  when  we  were  all 
working  together  picking  hemp,  I  retired  into  a  little 
corner,  to  be  nearer  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  There  my 
God  lavished  upon  me  the  greatest  graces.  Whilst 
doing  my  work,  I  suddenly  became  perfectly  recollected, 
interiorly  and  exteriorly.  The  Adorable  Heart  of  my 
Jesus,  more  brilliant  than  a  sun,  was  present  to  me.  It 
1  Contemp.,  p.  87. 


230  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

was  in  the  midst  of  the  flames  of  His  pure  love,  and 
surrounded  by  seraphim,  who  sang  in  ravishing  har- 
mony:   , 

"  '  Love  triumphs,  love  enjoys; 

The  love  of  the  Sacred  Heart  gladdens! ' 

"  The  blessed  spirits  invited  me  to  join  with  them  in 
praising  the  amiable  Heart,  but  I  dared  not  do  it.  Then 
they  told  me  that  they  had  come  to  unite  with  me  in 
rendering  it  a  continual  homage  of  love,  adoration,  and 
praise,  and  at  the  same  time  they  wrote  this  association 
in  the  Sacred  Heart,  in  letters  of  gold  and  ineffaceable 
characters  of  love.  This  favor  lasted  two  or  three  hours. 
All  my  life  I  have  felt  its  effects,  as  well  by  the  assistance 
I  received  from  it  as  by  the  sweetness  that  it  infused  into 
my  being  and  which  its  remembrance  always  produces 
in  me.  I  remained  abyssed  in  confusion.  Henceforth 
in  praying  to  the  angels,  I  could  no  longer  mention 
them  but  as  my  associates."  ' 

Such  visions  were  frequently  vouchsafed  Margaret 
Mary.  "  Ever)'-  first  Friday  of  the  month,"  she  says, 
"  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  was  represented  to  me  as  a 
brilliant  light,  whose  rays  fell  on  my  heart  and  inflamed 
it  with  a  fire  so  ardent  that  it  seemed  as  if  about  to  be 
reduced  to  ashes."  2 

This,  then,  is  what  Jesus  showed  to  Margaret  Mary  in 
her  luminous  ecstasies, — a  Heart:  a  Heart  palpitating 
with  love!  She  sees  only  that!  In  heaven  and  on 
earth — adorable  spectacle! — all  is  contained  in  a  Heart! 
Some  religions  have  been  made  for  the  adoration  of 
wisdom;  others — oh  error! — for  the  adoration  of  happi- 
ness, even  pleasure;  and  others,  more  degrading  still, 
have  been  made  for  the  worship  of  human  strength. 
They  all  deceive  themselves.     Love  only  is  adorable! 

Even  sanctity,  before  which  the  Jews  prostrated  in 
the  midst  of  the  thunderbolts  of  Sinai,  before  which  the 
cherubim  veiled  themselves  with  their  wings,  has  not 
1  Contemp.,  p.  75.  s  lb. 


The  Saintly  Sister  among  her  Novices.     231 

the  highest  claim  to  man's  adoration.  Love  wields  the 
sceptre. 

It  is  love  that  has  decreed  that  Christianity  shall  be 
the  eternal  religion  of  humanity.  "If  I  say  to  a  man, 
'  I  esteem  you,'  can  I  say  to  him  anything  else  ?"  cried 
out  a  great  orator  one  day.  "Yes;  for  I  can  say  to  him, 
'I  venerate  you.'  And  if  I  say  to  a  man,  'I  venerate 
you,'  can  I  say  to  him  any  more  ?  Have  I  in  this  word 
exhausted  my  vocabulary  ?  No;  I  have  still  one  thing 
to  say  to  him — one  only,  the  highest  of  all.  I  can  say 
to  him,  'I  love  you!'  Ten  thousand  words  may  pre- 
cede it,  but  none  other  of  any  language  can  follow  it. 
When  one  has  said  it  once  to  a  man,  there  is  nothing 
left  but  ever  and  ever  to  repeat  to  him  that  selfsame 
word."1  In  like  manner,  after  power  has  been  deified, 
wisdom  also  may  be  divinized;  but  after  that  comes 
love,  and  there  ends  the  scale:  we  have  nothing  left 
but  to  adore  it  forever. 

What  is  the  love  that  Christianity  has  been  made  to 
adore  ?  We  may  have  remarked  what  our  saint  said 
when  the  Heart  of  Jesus  was  shown  to  her  on  a  throne 
of  fire  and  flames:  "  The  wound  that  it  had  received  was 
visible,  and  there  was  a  crown  of  thorns  around  the 
Divine  Heart."  This  vision  frequently  presented  itself 
to  her,  and  this  character  of  immolation  and  of  sacrifice 
was  impressed  upon  her  under  a  thousand  forms. 
"  Once,"  said  she,  "  this  loving  Heart  was  shown  me 
transpierced  and  torn  with  blows." 8  Another  time  it 
appeared  to  her  "  pierced  with  light,  like  a  fathomless 
abyss,  opened  by  an  immeasurable  arrow."  s  "  Gener- 
ally the  thorns  of  the  crown  surrounded  the  Heart  so 
closely  and  pressed  it  so  violently  that  it  was  wounded 
in  every  part,  and  the  blood  flowed  in  streams."4  This 
was  the  meaning  of  the  divine  words  of  the  Imitation  : 
Et  sine  dolore  non  vivitur  in  amore  /  "  Without  sorrow 
there  is  no  living  in  love."* 

1  Contemp. ,  p.  54.  *  lb.  »  lb.  4  lb. 

8  Imitation  of  Christ,  bk.  in-  rh-  ■» 


232  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Admirable  thing!  There  are  in  the  heart  two  poles: 
one  by  which  we  enjoy,  and  one  by  which  we  suffer. 
Of  these  two  poles,  one  is  meant  to  last  forever.  We 
shall  carry  it  with  us  into  eternity,  for  it  is  that  by 
which  we  enjoy.  But  who  would  believe  it?  Here  be- 
low, on  this  sad  earth,  it  must  scarcely  ever  be  brought 
into  action.  It  is  full  of  peril  to  the  soul.  It  is  neither 
great  nor  productive  of  great  things.  If  one  aspires  to 
glory,  to  genius,  withdraw  this  pole  from  the  heart, — 
this  divine  pole,  this  celestial  pole,  by  which  we  en- 
joy. Its  hour  is  not  yet  come.  It  can  achieve  nothing 
here  below  but  low  and  vulgar  things.  The  laurel 
crown  has  ever  rested  on  wounded  foreheads,  and  the 
aureola  of  sanctity  has  never  encircled  any  but  crucified 
hearts.  How  beautiful,  then,  were  these  visions  in 
which  Margaret  perceived,  not  only  a  Heart,  but  a 
Heart  wounded,  a  Heart  bruised,  a  Heart  crowned  and 
bleeding!  She  knew  not  how  to  detach  herself  from 
it.  Her  soul  was  never  satiated  with  this  vivifying 
sight,  and  her  longest  hours  were  employed  in  contem- 
plating that  wounded  Heart,  and  trying  to  understand 
the  ravishing  mystery  it  proclaimed  of  immolation  and 
of  sacrifice. 

This  was  not,  however,  the  only  form  under  which 
the  Sacred  Heart  was  shown  to  Margaret  Mary.  There 
were  others,  also  very  beautiful,  which  incessantly  reap- 
peared: "  a  burning  furnace;"  '  "  a  furnace  of  love;"  2  "  a 
lover  attracting  souls;"  "  an  abyss  into  which  the  soul 
must  plunge  in  order  to  be  regenerated."3  Sometimes 
Margaret  Mary  saw  cold  souls,  frozen  souls  approach 
that  furnace;  and  when  about  to  warm  themselves, 
they  suddenly  and  foolishly  took  flight  and  lost  them- 
selves in  darkness.  She  saw  others  come  to  the  Heart 
of  Jesus,  cold,  stunted,  and  deformed.  On  approaching 
it  they  were  enlightened  and  inflamed,  and  they  ended 
by  losing  themselves  in  it  like  sparks  in  a  furnace.  One 
1  Contemp.,  p.  90.  2  lb.,  p.  193.  3  lb.,  p.  49 


The  Saintly  Sister  among  her  Novices.     233 

* 
day  the  Heart  of  Jesus  appeared  to  her  under  this  form 
of  a  burning  furnace,  into  which  two  other  hearts  has- 
tened to  plunge.  At  the  same  moment  she  heard  a  voice 
saying  to  her:  "  Thus  does  My  pure  love  unite  these 
three  hearts  forever!"  She  knew  that  it  was  the  heart 
of  her  holy  director  and  her  own  that  thus  abyssed 
themselves  in  the  Heart  of  Jesus.1 

These  visions  passed  at  every  moment  before  her  eyes, 
raising  her  above  the  earth,  making  her  a  prophetess, 
and  revealing  to  her  the  secrets  of  souls  and  the  laws  of 
a  superior  world.  As  in  nature  there  is  for  the  visible 
universe  a  centre  of  gravity  around  which  revolve  all 
the  celestial  bodies,  now  impelled  toward  it,  now  held 
back  from  it,  thus  governed  by  a  double  force  that 
everywhere  establishes  harmony;  so  is  there  a  centre  of 
gravity  in  the  moral  universe,  spotless  and  immovable 
amidst  the  tumult  of  the  world  :  and  that  is  the  Heart 
of  Jesus.  There  is  only  this  difference  between  it  and 
the  attractive  forces  that  govern  the  stars;  the  latter, 
though  borne  to  their  centre  by  attraction,  are  happily 
restrained  by  centrifugal  force;  but  souls  must  break 
loose  from  this  second  force,  this  egoism,  this  person- 
ality, that  they  may  allow  themselves  to  be  carried  to 
the  Heart  of  Jesus  and  therein  abyssed,  for  there  will 
be  no  order,  no  happiness,  until  all  are  lost  in  it. 

This  is  what  the  saintly  Sister  saw.  Can  we  marvel 
that  she  passed  entire  nights  in  contemplation,  and 
that,  when  left  on  her  knees  at  the  foot  of  the  tabernacle 
at  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  she  was  found  next 
morning  in  the  same  position,  immovable  and  ecstatic  ? 
But  can  any  one  imagine  what  must  then  have  been  her 
words,  the  light  of  her  countenance,  the  ardor,  the  pas- 
sion of  her  sentiments,  and  the  inflamed  eloquence  that 
flowed  from  her  lips  ?  However,  discreet,  and  mistress 
of  herself,  having  learned  from  the  Holy  Book  that  one 
should  not  divulge  "  the  secret  of  the  king,"  Margaret 
1  Contemp.,  p.  90. 


234  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Mary  said  nothing  of  her  sublime  revelations.  If  forced 
to  speak,  she  did  so  vaguely  and  obscurely.  One  day, 
when  Sister  de  la  Farges,  in  the  simplicity  that  belongs 
to  the  true  Visitandine,  asked  her  what  she  was  doing 
on  her  knees  perfectly  immovable  for  so  many  long 
hours  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  Margaret  Mary 
merely  replied  that  she  was  wholly  occupied  with  the 
sorrows  of  Jesus  in  His  Passion.  But  the  young  novice 
insisting,  received  the  reply:  "Whether  I  have  or  have 
not  a  body  at  that  time,  I  should  find  it  hard  to  say." 
On  another  occasion,  walking  with  Sister  Claude-Mar- 
guerite Billiet,  and  passing  near  the  little  cluster  of 
hazel-trees:  "  There,"  said  she  to  her,  "  behold  a  spot 
redolent  of  graces  for  me!  It  is  here  that  God  made 
known  tome  the  happiness  of  suffering,  by  the  knowledge 
He  has  given  me  of  His  Passion."  And  to  Sister  Ver- 
chere,  who  had  fallen  suddenly  ill  in  consequence  of 
the  significant  prohibition  to  Margaret  Mary  to  make 
the  Holy  Hour,  she  revealed  for  her  consolation  the 
secret  of  her  prayer  on  the  night  between  Thursday  and 
Friday,  and  of  her  Communion  of  the  first  Friday  of 
the  month.1  There  was  undoubtedly  nothing  in  all 
this  that  could  betray  the  secret  of  the  grand  revela- 
tions of  the  Sacred  Heart.  But  as  time  went  on  it  be- 
came more  evident  to  all  that  God  favored  Sister  Mar- 
garet Mary  with  singular  graces.  At  this  period  of  the 
divine  manifestations,  although  nothing  definite  was 
known,  it  was  clear  that  a  word,  a  single  word,  the  least 
imprudent  word,  would  suffice  to  reveal  all,  to  throw 
light  upon  the  obscure  presentiments  brooding  in  all 
souls.  This  was  just  what  happened,  and  behold  in 
what  way: 

There  had  been  two  consecutive  providential  lights: 
one  weak,  but  which  aroused  attention;  the  other  abso- 
lutely brilliant,  and  which  banished  all  doubts. 

Sister  Peronne-Rosalie  de  Farges,  who  was  going 
1  Annee  Sainte,  vol.  ix.  p.  216. 


The  Secret  of  the  Revelations  Escapes  Her.  235 

into  retreat,  went  to  ask  her  mistress  on  what  she  should 
make  her  prayer  during  it.  Margaret  Mary  gave  her 
a  book  to  help  her.  "In  this  book,"  says  Sister  de 
Farges,  "  she  had  by  mistake  left  a  note  written 
by  her  own  hand,  and  in  very  nearly  these  terms: 
'  The  Lord  made  me  understand  this  evening  at  prayer  that 
He  desires  to  be  known,  loved,  and  adored  by  men;  that  for 
this  end  He  will  communicate  many  graces  to  them  when  they 
shall  have  consecrated  themselves  to  love  and  devotion  toward 
His  Sacred  Heart'  "  l  We  may  well  believe  that  Sister 
de  Farges  failed  not  to  show  this  note  to  her  dear  com- 
panions of  the  novitiate,  and  that  by  it  Margaret  Mary's 
reputation  for  sanctity  increased.  Her  novices  now  be- 
gan to  suspect  that  it  was  not  in  books  that  she  had 
learned  what  she  said  of  the  Adorable  Heart  of  Jesus. 

Shortly  after,  an  absolutely  unforeseen  event  raised 
the  veil.  We  must  recall  the  fact  that  Father  de  la 
Colombiere  was  now  dead  two  years,  February  15, 1682. 
Among  his  papers  had  been  found  notes  written  during 
a  retreat.  These  notes  were  so  redolent  of  sanctity; 
they  furnished  so  beautiful  an  idea  of  his  great  soul; 
they  might,  besides,  be  so  useful  to  the  pious  in  gen- 
eral, that  the  Jesuits  resolved  to  publish  them.  The 
work  appeared  at  Lyons,  under  this  title:  "Spiritual 
Retreat  of  Rev.  Father  Claude  de  la  Colombiere:"  and, 
naturally  enough,  one  of  the  first  copies  was  sent  to  the 
Visitation  of  Paray.  The  good  Mother  Melin,  before 
reading  it  herself,  had  it  read  aloud  in  the  refectory, 
wishing  thus  to  gratify  more  quickly  the  pious  desires 
of  all  the  Sisters.  The  little  volume,  which  had  excited 
veritable  enthusiasm  in  the  Community,  was  almost 
finished  when  the  reader  stumbled  unexpectedly  upon 
a  certain  passage;  and,  strange  to  say,  Sister  de  Farges 
was  reader  that  day.  After  saying  that,  should  it  please 
God  to  restore  him  to  health,  he  resolved  to  promote 
with  all  his  strength  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament, 
1  Process  of  1715,  Deposition  of  Sister  de  Farges. 


236  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Father  de  la  Colombiere  added  these  words,  which  the 
Sister  read  with  ever-increasing  devotion: 

"  I  have  recognized  that  God  wishes  me  to  serve  Him 
by  furthering  the  accomplishment  of  His  desires  con- 
cerning a  devotion  He  has  suggested  to  a  person  to  whom 
He  has  communicated  Himself  very  intimately,  and  to  serve 
whom  He  has  graciously  pleased  to  make  use  of  my  weakness. 
I  have  already  taught  it  to  many  in  England.  I  have 
written  of  it  in  France,  and  implored  one  of  my  friends 
to  endeavor  to  make  it  appreciated.  It  will  be  very  use- 
ful to  them,  and  the  great  number  of  chosen  souls  in 
that  Community  makes  me  think  that  its  practice  in 
that  holy  house  will  be  very  agreeable  to  God.  Why, 
my  God,  cannot  I  everywhere  publish  what  Thou  dost 
expect  from  Thy  servants  and  friends  ? 

"God,  then,  having  revealed  Himself  to  a  person 
who,  from  the  great  graces  that  He  has  given  her, 
we  have  reason  to  believe,  according  to  His  Heart,  she 
explained  them  to  me,  and  I  obliged  her  to  put  in 
writing  all  that  she  told  me.  I  have  much  desired  to 
write  it  myself  in  the  journal  of  my  retreats,  because 
the  good  God  wishes,  in  the  execution  of  this  design, 
to  make  use  of  my  poor  services. 

"  '  Being  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament  during  one  of 
its  octaves,'  said  that  holy  soul,  '  I  received  from  my 
God  some  most  sublime  graces  of  His  love.  I  was  filled 
with  the  desire  of  making  Him  some  return,  and  of 
rendering  Him  love  for  love;  but  He  said  to  me:  Thou 
canst  never  do  anything  greater  for  Me  than  what  I  have 
already  so  many  times  asked  thee.  And  exposing  to  me  His 
Divine  Heart,  See  this  Heart,  said  He,  which  has  loved  men 
so  much  that  it  has  spared  nothing,  even  to  exhausting  and 
consuming  itself,  in  order  to  testify  to  them  its  love.  In  re- 
turn I  receive  from  the  greater  part  only  ingratitude,  by 
reason  of  the  contempt,  irreverence,  sacrilege,  and  coldness 
that  they  show  Me  in  this  sacrament  of  love.  But  what  1 
feel  yet  more  is  that  there  are  some  hearts  consecrated  to  Me 


The  Saintly  Sister  among  her  Novices.      237 

that  treat  Me  thus.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  ask  thee  that 
the  first  Friday  after  the  octave  of  Corpus  Christi  be  set 
apart  as  a  special  feast  to  honor  My  Heart,  by  making  an  act 
of  reparation,  and  by  communicating  on  thai  day  to  repair  the 
indignities  it  sustained  during  the  time  of  exposition  on  the 
altars.  I  promise  thee  that  My  Heart  will  expand  to  pour 
out  abundantly  the  influence  of  its  divine  love  upon  all  that 
will  render  it  this  honor.''  " 

We  have  said  that  Sister  Peronne-Rosalie  de  Farges 
was  the  reader.  At  the  first  word  she  divined  all,  and 
cast  a  furtive  glance  at  Margaret  Mary,  who  sat  facing 
her  in  the  refectory.  "  When,"  said  she  in  her  deposi- 
tion, "  I  came  to  what  concerned  the  revelation  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  I  looked  at  the  venerable  Sister.  She 
was  sitting  with  her  eyes  lowered  and  looking  pro- 
foundly annihilated."  l  The  Community  felt  the  same 
emotion.  "  Not  only  deponent,"  continued  Sister  de 
Farges,  "  but  the  Community  understood  then  that  it 
was  the  said  servant  of  God  who  had  made  these  pre- 
dictions."2 

The  young  alone  recoil  not  in  the  presence  of  what 
would  deter  or  awe  others.  On  leaving  the  refectory, 
Sister  de  Farges  unhesitatingly  approached  the  saint 
with:  "Aha!  my  dear  Sister,  haven't  you  heard  your 
manifestation  in  the  reading  to-day 3  to  your  heart's 
content  ?"  What  could  Margaret  Mary  do  before  so 
direct  a  question?  Deny  it  ?  Impossible!  Acknowl- 
edge it?  Her  humility  forbade  such  a  course.  "Saint- 
like she  bowed  her  head,  and  replied  that  she  had  great 
cause  to  love  her  abjection."4 

From  that  moment  the  novices  entertained  no  more 
doubt  on  the  subject.  To  them  Margaret  Mary  was  a 
saint  honored  by  most  secret  communication  with  the 

1  Process  of  1715,  Deposition  of  Sister  de  Farges. 
8  lb.  s  lb. 

4  We  are  astonished  that  like  facts  have  not  yet  been  found  in  any 
life  of  Margaret  Mary. 


238  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Lord.  They  divided  among  themselves  little  scraps  of 
her  clothing,  and  when  Sister  Anne-Alexis  de  Mare- 
schalle  cut  her  hair,  they  eagerly  strove  for  the  relics. 
It  is  also  probable  that  from  this  day  Sister  Margaret 
Mary  maintained  a  little  less  reserve  in  her  communi- 
cations with  her  young  novices.  She  regarded  the  reve- 
lation made  by  Father  de  la  Colombiere  as  provi- 
dential, and  the  Friday  after  the  octave  of  Corpus 
Christi  "she  ventured  to  hang  on  the  novitiate  altar  a 
little  pen-and-ink  picture  of  the  Sacred  Heart."  1 

The  feast  of  the  saintly  mistress,  July  20,  1685,  was 
now  approaching,  and  the  novices  resolved  to  celebrate 
it  with  pious  solemnity,  in  accord  with  the  sentiments 
they  entertained  for  her.  Margaret  Mary,  noticing  this 
preparation,  asked  them  smilingly  if  they  desired  to 
make  her  very  happy.  Reading  the  answer  in  the  glow- 
ing countenances  of  her  dear  novices,  she  begged  that  all 
the  testimonies  of  affection  they  were  preparing  for  her 
should  be  offered  to  the  Divine  Heart  of  Jesus.  The 
novices  understood,  and  in  an  instant  changed  their 
plans.  Under  a  stairway  that  led  to  the  tower  or  bel- 
fry, was  an  apartment  large  enough  to  accommodate  a 
little  altar,  and  very  capable  of  being  transformed  into 
an  oratory.  Sister  des  Claines  seized  her  brush,  and 
covered  the  walls,  the  ceilings,  the  rafters,  the  planks 
with  flowers  and  stars  and  fiery  hearts  that  may  still  be 
seen.2  They  erected  an  altar,  ornamented  it  with  roses, 
and  placed  in  its  centre  the  little  picture  of  the  Sacred 

1  The  original  is  at  the  Visitation  of  Turin.  We  read  at  the  bottom: 
1 '  This  picture  is  the  first  ever  venerated  under  the  title  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  Jesus,  in  the  novitiate  of  the  Visitation  convent  of  Paray." 
The  Heart  is  surrounded  by  a  crown  of  thorns  and  surmounted  by  a 
cross.  Not  knowing  how  to  express  the  love  that  consumed  it,  the 
opening  with  a  lance  is  represented,  and  in  the  centre  is  written  "Chari- 
tas."  Around  the  crown  we  read  "  Jesus,  Mary,  Joseph,  Joachim, 
Anne."  We  do  not  know  whether  this  picture  is  by  the  hand  of  Mar- 
garet Mary  herself  or  by  that  of  one  of  her  novices. 

3  AnnGe  Sainte,  vol.  ix.  p.  730. 


First  Public  Adoration  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  239 

Heart  from  the  novitiate.  With  Mother  Melin's  con- 
sent they  had  noiselessly  employed  part  of  the  night  in 
this  work.  In  the  morning,  however,  they  were  less  for- 
tunate ;  for  having  advanced  their  duties,  in  the  refec- 
tory, in  their  eager  joy,  they  forgot  themselves  a  little, 
and  thus  attracted  the  attention  of  some  of  the  deai 
Sisters.  Informed  by  them  of  what  was  taking  placet 
Mother  Melin  went  to  seek  the  novices.  But  they  soon 
gave  her  reasons  so  good  for  what  she  had  heard  that 
she  went  away  satisfied,  and  the  little  troop  finished 
their  humble  preparations  in  peace. 

At  nine  o'clock,  Prime  being  over,  Margaret  Mary 
went  to  the  novitiate,  whence,  without  saying  a  word, 
she  was  led  to  the  little  oratory.  Surprised  and  de- 
lighted, she  thanked  her  dear  novices  for  the  joy  they 
gave  her.  Radiant,  and  with  the  ardor  of  a  seraph,  she 
addressed  to  them  some  glowing  words;  and  then,  pros- 
trating before  the  picture,  her  example  followed  by  the 
novices,  she  publicly  consecrated  herself  to  the  Sacred 
Heart.  Each  of  the  novices  did  the  same,  repeating  in 
turn  the  words  of  the  formula  Margaret  Mary  had  used. 
After  this  she  invited  them  to  retire  awhile  with  her 
into  solitude,  there  to  write  the  sentimenis  with  which 
they  had  just  been  penetrated,  promising  them  to  add  a 
word  below  their  act  of  consecration.  The  whole  morn- 
ing was  thus  piously  and  joyously  passed. 

After  the  noon-obedience  Margaret  Mary  again  re- 
united her  novices  around  the  little  altar.  She  was  even 
more  radiant  than  in  the  morning,  the  happiness  of  her 
holy  soul  beaming  in  her  countenance.  She  congratu- 
lated her  novices,  and  blessed  God.  In  her  transports 
of  love,  she  would  have  wished  the  rest  of  the  Com- 
munity to  come  to  offer  their  homage  to  the  Heart  of 
her  good  Master.' 

Hearing  her  speak  thus,  the  amiable  and  impetuous 
$ister  Verchere  hurried  off  to  the  Sisters,  who  were  walk- 
1  Contemp.,  p.  206. 


240  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

ing  in  the  garden,  related  to  them  what  was  taking 
place  in  the  novitiate,  and  begged  them  to  come  offer 
their  homage  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  But  she  was  rather 
ungraciously  received.  "  As  they  were  daughters  of 
strict  observance,"  wrote  their  contemporaries,  "to  whom 
this  just  proposition  was  made,  they  sent  her  back 
more  quickly  than  she  had  come,  telling  her  that  it  was 
not  the  province  of  little  novices  to  introduce  novelties,1 
and  quoted  a  point  of  the  Rule  by  which  such  things 
are  absolutely  prohibited."  2  Sister  Verchere  said,  also, 
in  her  deposition :  "  The  most  exact  were  decidedly  the 
most  opposed,  because  they  feared  novelty."  3 

Of  this  number  was  Sister  Catherine-Augustine  Ma- 
rest,  renowned  for  the  ardor  of  her  penance,  frequently 
carried  to  heroism;  Sister  Marie-Seraphique  de  la  Mar- 
tiniere,  always  recollected  as  an  angel,  and  so  tenderly 
united  to  God  that  our  old  Memoires  say  she  died  of 
love  ;  finally,  and  especially,  Sister  Marie-Madeleine 
des  Escures,  whom  the  contemporary  manuscripts  call 
"  the  saintly  Mother  Marie-Madeleine."  4  It  was  she 
who  was  most  persistent  in  her  refusal,  "  although  she 
was  the  intimate  friend  of  their  incomparable  mistress."  * 

1  Contemp.,  p.  208. 

2  Constitutions  of  the  Visitation,  Constitution  XVIII.  "Now,  as 
human  minds  are  apt  to  take  a  secret  complacency  in  their  own  con- 
ceits, even  under  a  pretext  of  devotion  or  of  an  increase  of  piety  ;  and 
as  it  nevertheless  happens  at  times  that  a  multiplicity  of  offices  hinders 
due  attention,  alacrity,  and  reverence,  the  Community  shall  not  be 
allowed,  under  any  pretext  whatever,  to  charge  itself  with  any  other 
Office,  or  ordinary  prayers,  but  those  that  are  assigned  in  these  Con- 
stitutions and  in  the  Directory.  For  thus  it  will  be  better  qualified  and 
better  able  to  say  and  sing  the  Office  with  that  gravity  and  respect  now 
observed  in  it." 

3  Process  of  171 5. 

4  Contemp.,  p.  208. 

5  '  •  Abridgment  of  the  Life  and  Virtues  of  our  dear  Sister  Marie- 
Elizabeth  de  la  Salle."  She  was  placed  under  the  direction  of  our  very 
honored  Sister  Marie-Madeleine  des  Escures,  one  of  the  best  friends  0/ 
our  saintly  Sister  Alacoque,  who  always  regarded  her  as  a  true 
saint. 


First  Public  Adoration  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  241 

"  Go  say  to  your  mistress,"  she  replied  to  Sister  Ver- 
chere,  "  that  the  best  devotion  is  the  practice  of  our 
Rules  and  Constitutions  ;  and  that  that  is  what  she 
ought  to  teach  you  and  the  others  to  practise  well." 

Little  Sister  Verchere  did  not  expect  this  reception  ; 
she  was,  consequently,  much  astonished  and  embar- 
rassed. However,  not  to  sadden  her  mistress  on  such  a 
day,  she  merely  said,  on  returning,  that  the  Sisters  could 
not  come. 

"  Say,  rather,"  quickly  responded  Margaret,  "  that 
they  will  not  come.  But  the  Sacred  Heart  will  force 
them  to  render  it  homage."  And  alluding  to  Sister 
Marie-Madeleine,  she  continued  :  "  There  are  some  now 
opposed  to  it,  but  the  time  will  come  when  they  will  be 
the  first  to  forward  the  devotion."  This,  indeed,  hap- 
pened in  the  most  unexpected  manner  before  the  end 
of  the  year. 

Margaret  Mary  was  in  reality  right  in  calling  the 
whole  Community  to  render  homage  to  the  Heart  of 
Jesus,  because  she  had  received  that  commission  from 
God.  In  refusing  to  go,  Mother  Marie-Madeleine  had 
done  no  wrong  ;  for  Margaret  Mary's  mission  was  not 
yet  vouched  for  by  any  one, — not  by  the  Pope,  the  de- 
finitive and  sovereign  judge  of  devotions  in  the  Church; 
nor  by  the  diocesan  bishop,  the  judge  in  the  first  in- 
stance, nor  even  by  Margaret  Mary's  Superiors.  Mother 
Marie-Madeleine  waited,  then,  faithful  guardian  of  the 
Rules,  holding  to  them,  and  doing  well  to  hold  to  them, 
since  she  was  not  yet  authorized  to  stray  from  them  ; 
although,  assuredly,  if  she  had  looked  into  them  a  little 
more  carefully,  and  if  she  had  had  a  broader  and  more 
liberal  mind,  she  would  have  understood  that  this  de- 
votion came  forth  from  the  very  bowels  of  Christianity; 
or,  without  going  so  far,  she  would  have  found  it  born 
of  the  books  of  even  St.  Francis  de  Sales  and  St.  Chan- 
tal.  But  though  very  holy,  Mother  Marie-Madeleine 
rose  not  so  high.     In  this  house  she  represented   the 


242  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

positive  side,  the  practical  and  literal  interpreta- 
tion :  and  in  that  is  contained  all  that  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary to  a  Community.  It  is,  moreover,  the  most  se- 
cure, provided  its  members  acknowledge  that  God  can 
make  exceptions,  and  know  how  to  submit  to  them  when 
the  trial  shall  be  made.  This  will  happen  at  the  time 
fixed,  and  will  crown  saintly  Mother  Madeleine  with  an 
aureola  most  pure.  After  having  resisted  so  long  as  the 
will  of  God  was  not  manifested  to  her  by  the  voice  of 
her  Superiors,  she  was  the  first  to  submit  after  they  had 
spoken.  We  shall  see  her  prostrating  before  the  Sacred 
Heart,  bringing  after  her  the  entire  Community,  and 
making  a  public  consecration,  which  will  at  the  same 
time  be  an  act  of  contrition  and  reparation. 

The  rest  of  the  day  was  passed  in  the  novitiate  in 
peace  and  recollection  almost  heavenly.  That  evening 
Margaret  Mary  again  assembled  her  novices.  She  ap- 
peared to  them  as  if  transfigured.  The  manuscript  here 
repeats  an  expression  already  used  twice  before,  and 
which  better  than  any  other  conveys  the  general  impres- 
sion :  "  She  looked  like  a  seraph."  It  is  probable  that 
with  prophetic  gaze  she  saw  far  ahead  of  her  own  age. 
In  this  little  novitiate  adoration  she  beheld  similar  acts 
multiplied  in  the  future  ;  she  saw  them  become  uni- 
versal and  perpetual,  rewarming  the  Church,  saving 
France,  and  bringing  to  God  new  and  greater  accidental 
glory. 

Good  Mother  Melin  had  sanctioned  this  feast;  but 
seeing  how  it  was  received  in  the  Community,  she  now 
believed  it  her  duty  prudently  to  efface  it.  She  was  a 
peace-loving  soul,  unequalled  in  sweetness,  her  great  con- 
descension gaining  for  her  the  title  of  a  true  daughter 
of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  a  title  acquired  by  the  imitation 
of  the  great  saint's  virtues.1  That  evening,  therefore, 
the  novices  having  retired,  she  went  to  find  Margaret 

1  Contemp.,  p.  210. 


First  Public  Adoration  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  243 

Mary  ;  and,  though  permitting  her  to  adore  and  teach 
the  Heart  of  Jesus  in  the  novitiate,  yet,  in  order  to 
calm  minds,  she  forbade  her  to  do  anything  that  could 
attract  the  attention  of  the  Community. 

Margaret  Mary  obeyed  :  first,  because  she  always 
obeyed;  and  secondly,  because,  having  cast  a  look  on  the 
Adorable  Heart  of  her  good  Master,  she  thought  she 
heard  a  voice  that  said  to  her  :  "  Fear  nothing,  My 
daughter.  I  shall  reign  in  spite  of  My  enemies  and 
those  that  wish  to  oppose  Me." !  Of  enemies  He 
had  none  in  the  convent,  since  "  it  was  the  most  ex- 
emplary ;  "  though  there  were  some  that,  "  fearing  nov- 
elty, made  opposition."  We  shall  not  be  slow,  however, 
to  meet  them  in  the  world  ;  and  the  way  in  which  the 
Heart  of  Jesus  will  triumph  over  them,  and  "  reign  in 
spite  of  them,"  will  furnish  the  greatest  proof  that  the 
finger  of  God  is  here. 

1  Contemp.,  p.  211. 


2 44  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE  APOSTOLATE  OF  THE  SACRED  HEART  BEGUN— 
WITH  WHAT  MODESTY  AND  ZEAL  MARGARET  MARY 
BEGINS  TO  SPREAD  DEVOTION  TO  THE  SACRED 
HEART. 

1686-1689. 

"  Ite,  angeli  veloces,  ad  gentem  convulsam  et  dilaceratam;  ad  popu- 
lism terribilem,  post  quem  non  est  alius;  ad  gentem  expectantem  et 
conculcatam,  cujus  diripuerunt  flumina  terram  ejus." 

"Go,  ye  swift  angels,  to  a  nation  rent  and  torn  in  pieces:  to  a 
terrible  people,  after  which  there  is  no  other  :  to  a  nation  expecting  and 
trodden  under  foot,  whose  land  the  rivers  have  spoiled." — Isaias 
xviii.  2. 

"  Trahe  me,  post  te  curremus  in  odorem  unguentorum  tuorum." 

"  O  Heart  of  Jesus,  draw  me!  We  will  run  after  Thee  to  the  odor 
of  thy  ointments." — Cant.  i.  3. 

JTTN  asking  Sister  Margaret  Mary  to  desist  for  the 
JjL  present  from  any  effort  to  spread  the  new  devotion 
in  the  Community,  Mother  Melin  had  not  forbid- 
den her  to  labor  at  making  it  known  outside  the  grate. 
The  hour  was  come.  Margaret  Mary  was  more  and 
more  consumed  with  love  of  the  Adorable  Heart.  This 
divine  fire,  having  been  restrained  so  long,  must  now  be 
allowed  to  burn  unchecked.  With  the  Lord,  Margaret 
Mary  might  have  said:  "  I  am  come  to  bring  fire  on  the 
earth." 

At  the  beginning  of  this  year,  1686,  she  wrote:  "  It 
seems  to  me  that  I  can  breathe  only  to  increase  devotion 
to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  He  sometimes  enkindles  in  my 
heart  so  great  a  desire  to  make  it  reign  in  all  other  hearts 
that  there  is  nothing  I  would  not  wish  to  do  and  suffer 
for  this  end.  Even  the  pains  of  hell,  without  sin,  would 


The  Apostolate  of  the  Sacred  Heart  begun.   245 

be  sweet  to  me."  1  "  I  am  no  longer  able  to  occupy  my- 
self with  any  other  thought  than  that  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  my  Jesus.  I  should  die  content  could  I  procure 
it  any  honor,  even  should  my  efforts  bring  me  as  recom- 
pense only  eternal  pain.  Provided  I  love  Jesus  and 
that  He  reigns,  it  is  enough  for  me.  Contradiction 
often  made  me  almost  resolve  to  cease  speaking  of  His 
Heart;  but  I  was  so  severely  reproved  for  my  vain  fears, 
and  afterwards  so  strengthened  and  encouraged,  that  I 
have  determined,  whatever  it  may  cost  me,  to  pursue 
my  purpose  to  the  end.  But  if  obedience  should  not 
permit  me,  I  shall  stop;  for  to  it  I  defer  all  my  views 
and  sentiments."  2  "  Life  is  to  me  so  heavy  a  cross  that 
I  can  find  no  consolation  in  it,  excepting  that  of  seeing 
the  Heart  of  my  Saviour  reign.  For  this  there  is  nothing 
that  I  would  not  wish  to  suffer."  3 

The  first  two  of  the  foregoing  extracts  are  from  a 
letter  addressed  to  Mother  Greyfie,  who,  after  leaving 
Paray  in  1684,  had  been  nominated  Superioress  of  the 
Visitation  of  Semur-en-Auxois.  The  third  is  taken  from 
a  letter  to  Mother  deSaumaise,  who  was  then  Superior- 
ess at  Dijon.  Mother  de  Saumaise  had  passed  three  years 
at  Moulins,  where  she  prepared  Mother  de  Soudeilles 
to  understand  and  relish  the  mystery  of  devotion  to  the 
Heart  of  Jesus.  These  were  the  three  religious  chosen 
to  begin  the  work  of  the  apostolate.  Hidden  in  her 
humility,  not  wishing  to  appear  in  anything,  having  a 
"horror  of  letters  and  the  parlor,"  Saint  Margaret 
Mary  will  be  their  inspiratrix.  They,  more  advanced  in 
years;  more  at  liberty,  since  they  are  at  the  head  of 
Communities;  and  more  fearless,  since  it  was  not  to 
them  that  the  revelations  had  been  made; — they,  to  use 
the  expression  of  Mother  de  Saumaise,  will  be  the 
speaking-trumpets,  the  precursors,  the  heralds  of  the 
Sacred  Heart.     The  first  thing  that     Saint     Margaret 

1  Letters  of  Blessed  Margaret  Mary.     Letter  XXXV. 

2  Letter  XXXV.  3  Letter  LXXX. 


246  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Mary  desired  was  a  picture  that  would  attract  the  gaze 
and  prepare  the  heart.  No  devotion  can  become  pop- 
ular without  this  condition,  and  all  great  love  has  need 
of  it.  Hardly  were  the  first  Christians  inclosed  in  the 
catacombs,  before  they  wished  to  provide  for  them- 
selves this  gratification.  They  tried  to  paint  on  the 
walls  of  their  obscure  abodes  the  features  of  the  Saviour, 
of  His  Virgin-Mother,  and  of  the  apostles.  Unskilful 
as  were  their  brushes,  coarse  and  imperfect  as  may  be 
their  sketches,  they  are  even  at  the  present  day,  even 
after  Fra  Angelico  and  Raphael,  not  without  some 
charm  for  those  that  contemplate  them.  They  are 
wanting  in  art,  but  not  in  heart.  Similar  things  will 
take  place  at  Paray,  whose  inmates  were  at  first  satisfied 
with  "  a  simple  pen-and-ink  drawing  on  paper,"  but  who 
now  long  for  something  better.  The  difficulty  was, 
however,  very  great.  There  was  question  not  only  of 
representing  but  of  idealizing  a  heart,  and,  by  some 
magical  stroke  of  the  brush,  to  show  forth  in  it  both 
divinity  and  love.  Van  Eyck  has  skilfully  depicted  in 
the  face  of  a  lamb  all  the  majesty  of  a  God.  But  there 
was  no  Van  Eyck  at  Paray.  Alas!  no  Van  Eyck  has 
since  arisen,  neither  at  Paray  nor  elsewhere.  After  two 
whole  centuries  of  trial  and  methodizing,  we  are  still 
awaiting  the  master-hand  that  shall  make  the  canvas 
breathe  the  immaterial  beauty  of  the  passion  tKat  con- 
sumed Margaret  Mary,  the  Adorable  Heart  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Meantime,  as  in  the  catacombs,  Paray  is  trying 
some  strokes  of  her  timid  brush. 

One  month  after  the  novitiate  fete,  Margaret  Mary 
wrote  to  Mother  de  Saumaise,  to  beg  her  to  come'to  her 
assistance.  "  There  has  been  here,"  said  she  to  her,  "  a 
young  man  from  Paris,  a  relative  of  one  of  our  Sister- 
novices.  The  latter  having  spoken  to  him  of  it,  he 
generously  offered  to  procure  for  us  a  picture  as  beauti- 
ful as  we  can  desire.     All  that  we  have  to  do  is  to  find 


The  Apostolate  of  the  Sacred  Heart  begun.   247 

the  model."1  This  was  the  difficulty.  To  encourage 
Mother  de  Saumaise  to  overcome  it,  and  to  seek  at 
Dijon,  the  old  capital  of  Burgundy  and  the  focus  of 
letters  and  art,  a  painter  capable  of  a  task  so  difficult, 
Margaret  Mary  spoke  to  her  of  a  vision  she  had  just 
had.  In  it  Our  Lord  had  told  her  that  souls  devout  to 
His  Sacred  Heart  should  never  perish;  and  that,  as  it 
is  the  source  of  all  benedictions,  He  would  pour  them 
out  abundantly  upon  every  place  in  which  the  image 
of  this  amiable  Heart  should  be  exposed  for  love  and 
adoration;  that  He  would  by  this  means  reunite  divided 
families;  that  He  would  protect  souls  in  necessity;  and 
that  He  would  give  a  special  grace  of  salvation  and 
sanctification  to  the  first  who  would  have  this  holy  pic- 
ture made.3 

On  another  occasion  she  wrote  with  even  more  im- 
portunity: "  I  should  be  very  much  pleased  to  know 
whether  you  can  do  something  that  the  Sacred  Heart 
of  our  good  Master  has  destined  and  reserved  for  you. 
...  It  is  that,  as  you  have  been  the  first  to  whom  He 
is  well  pleased  that  I  disclose  His  ardent  desire  of  being 
known,  loved,  and  adored  by  His  creatures,  He  wishes 
you  to  be  the  one  that  will  have  a  plate  made  of  the 
picture  of  the  Sacred  Heart;  so  that  all  that  wish  to 
render  Him  special  homage  may  have  those  pictures  in 
their  houses,  and  smaller  ones  to  carry  on  their  person. 
It  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  a  great  happiness  for 
you  to  be  able  to  procure  Him  this  honor,  for  which  you 
will  be  more  abundantly  recompensed  than  for  any- 
thing that  you  have  hitherto  done  in  your  whole  life."J 

In  similar  terms,  and  with  yet  more  ardor  of  soul, 
Margaret  Mary  wrote  of  it  to  Mother  Greyfie:  "  If  you 
knew,  my  good  Mother,  how  much  I  feel  urged  to  love 
the  Sacred  Heart  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ!  It  seems 
to  me  that  life  was  only  given  me. for  this!  .  .  .  He  has 
favored  me  with  a  visit  that  has  been  extremely  advan- 

1  Letter  XXXVI.  2  Letter  XXXII.  3  Letter  XXXVI. 


2 43  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

tageous  to  me,  owing  to  the  good  impressions  it  has  left 
in  my  heart.  He  has  repeated  that  the  pleasure  He 
takes  in  being  loved,  known,  and  honored  by  His  crea- 
tures is  so  great  that,  if  I  do  not  mistake,  He  has  prom- 
ised me  that  they  who  shall  have  been  devout  to  His 
Heart  shall  never  perish;  and  that,  as  He  is  the  source 
of  all  benedictions,  He  will  pour  them  out  abundantly 
upon  every  spot  in  which  shall  be  exposed  and  honored 
the  image  of  His  divine  Heart."  Margaret  Mary,  hav- 
ing specified  those  benedictions  almost  in  the  same 
terms  as  in  her  letter  to  Mother  de  Saumaise,  adds: 
"  He  has  given  me  to  know  that  His  Sacred  Heart  is  the 
Holy  of  holies,  the  sanctuary  of  love;  that  He  wishes 
to  be  known  in  our  day  as  the  Mediator  between  God 
and  man,  for  He  is  all-powerful  to  restore  us  peace,  by 
turning  from  us  the  chastisements  our  sins  deserve,  and 
to  obtain  mercy  for  us."  l 

Mother  Greyfie  had  just  finished  reading  Pere  de  la 
Colombiere's  Retreat.  That  reading  on  the  one  side, 
this  letter  on  the  other,  the  perfect  knowledge  that  she 
had  of  the  sublime  revelation  of  the  Sacred  Heart  and 
of  the  Sister's  sanctity,  convinced  her  that  the  hour 
for  a  solemn  act  was  come.  Having,  probably,  at  her 
command  a  painter  of  some  merit,  she  caused  a  picture 
of  the  Adorable  Heart  of  Jesus  to  be  executed  in  oil, 
and  hung  it  above  the  altar  of  a  little  oratory.  There, 
at  the  head  of  the  Community,  she  knelt  and  solemnly 
consecrated  herself  to  the  Heart  of  her  Divine  Master. 
No  one  could  have  repaired  more  simply  her  former 
hesitancy,  nor  given  to  the  whole  Order,  of  which  she 
was  one  of  the  most  eminent  Superioresses,  a  more 
brilliant  example.  Moreover,  wishing  to  give  Margaret 
Mary  a  present  that  would  go  straight  to  her  heart,  she 
had  a  copy  of  the  picture  made,  added  to  it  a  dozen 
little  pen-and  ink  drawings  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and 
sent  them  to  her  for  a  Christmas  gift. 

1  Letter  XXXI II. 


The  Apostolate  of  the  Sacred  Heart  begun.   249 

The  saintly  Sister  could  not  contain  her  joy.  She 
wrote  at  once  to  Mother  Greyfie  and  thanked  her 
heartily:  "  I  cannot  tell  you  the  consolation  that  you 
have  given  me  both  by  sending  me  the  representation 
of  the  amiable  Heart  and  by  wishing  to  help  us  honor 
it  with  all  your  Community.  You  have  caused  me  trans- 
ports of  joy  a  thousand  times  greater  than  if  you  had 
put  me  in  possession  of  all  the  treasures  of  the  world."  ' 
A  little  later  she  says:  "I  shall  now  die  content,  since 
the  Sacred  Heart  of  my  Saviour  begins  to  be  known 
and  I  remain  unknown.  I  remind  you  of  your  promise 
to  me,  namely,  to  do  all  you  can  to  prevent  any  mention 
of  me  after  my  death,  except  to  ask  prayers  for  the 
most  needy  and  wicked  religious  of  the  Institute.  .  .  ." 
She  concludes  with:  "  He  wishes  that  I  should  say  to 
you  that  your  Community  has  so  won  His  friendship,  by 
being  the  first  to  render  adoration  to  His  Heart,  that 
it  has  become  the  object  of  His  complacency.  When 
praying  for  it,  He  does  not  wish  that  I  should  name 
it  other  than  the  well-beloved  Coi?imunity  of  His  Heart." 

Whilst  thus,  in  terms  of  admirable  humility,  pouring 
out  her  gratitude  to  Mother  Greyfie,  Margaret  Mary 
lost  no  time  in  distributing  the  little  pictures  to  those 
who  would  most  profit  by  them.  She  sent  one  to  the 
Jesuit  Fathers  of  Paray,  two  to  Mother  de  Soudeilles 
and  to  Sister  de  la  Barge  at  Moulins,  and  one  to  Mother 
de  Saumaise  at  Dijon.  The  last  mentioned  was  accom- 
panied by  an  imploring  request  to  have  a  copper-plate 
engraving  of  it  made,  for  the  little  pen  designs  could 
not  be  distributed  in  sufficiently  large  numbers.  "  If," 
said  she,*4  we  had  a  plate,  we  could  scatter  them  far  and 
wide." 

Mother  de  Soudeilles,  having  received  the  two  pic- 
tures of  the  divine  Heart,  kept  the  smaller  one  to  wear 
always  on  her  heart;  and  the  larger  she  exposed  for 
the   veneration  of   the  Sisters  in  the    room  in    which 

1  Letter  XXXIV. 


2  5°  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

their  sainted  foundress  had  died.  From  that  day  the 
oratory  was  more  than  ever  frequented;  and  on  the 
first  Friday  of  every  month  the  whole  Community  used 
to  assemble  there  to  make  on  their  knees  the  Act  of 
Reparation. 

Deeper,  perhaps,  than  even  the  joyous  impression 
made  upon  Margaret  Mary  herself  on  learning  of  the 
solemn  consecration  of  Semur  to  the  Sacred  Heart  was 
that  produced  on  the  Community  of  Paray,  and  on 
Sister  Madeleine  des  Escures  in  particular.  The  con- 
vent of  Paray  was,  so  to  say,  divided  at  that  time  into 
two  large  parties:  the  party  of  the  aged,  the  rigid  ob- 
servers of  the  Rule,  fervent  guardians  of  the  customs, 
having  at  their  head  Sister  Marie-Madeleine;  and  the 
younger  members,  formed  by  Margaret  Mary,  over  whom 
reigned  her  holy  influence  and  into  whom  she  had  instilled 
some  of  her  own  devotedness  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus. 
Between  these  two  parties  the  prudence  of  good  Mother 
Melin  maintained  peace.  Mother  Greyfie,  so  rigid  and 
so  firm  in  her  goodness,  had  once  belonged  to  the  first- 
mentioned  party;  consequently,  when  what  she  had 
just  done  became  known,  a  profound,  sensation  was 
created,  and  no  one  felt  it  more  sensibly  than  Sister 
Marie-Madeleine.  In  her  heart  she  had  always  been 
tenderly  united  to  Margaret  Mary,  whom  she  both 
loved  and  venerated;  but  her  reason  inclined  toward 
Mother  Greyfie.  She  knew  her  as  a  rigorous  observer 
of  the  least  point  of  the  Rule;  she  knew  her  as  no 
innovatrix,  and  as  one  that  acted  only  after  most 
serious  reflection.  She  had  lived  six  years  under  her 
administration,  and  she  regarded  her  as  one  of  the  pil- 
lars of  observance,  one  of  the  firmest  columns  of  the 
Institute.  If,  then,  Mother  Greyfie  had  prostrated  be- 
fore the  Sacred  Heart,  and  solemnly  inaugurated  the 
new  devotion,  why  should  she  still  hesitate  ?  Who  could 
doubt  after  such  an  example  ?  Surely  there  was  nothing 
contrary  either  to  the  letter  of  the  Rule  or  to  the  spirit 


The  Apostolate  of  the  Sacred  Heart  begun.   251 

of  the  Visitation,  much  less  to  the  doctrines  of  holy 
Church.  Sister  Madeleine  spoke  of  it  to  Mother  Melin, 
who  had  long  been  a  secret  adherent  of  the  sacred  cause, 
and  in  union  with  her  she  quickly  and  quietly  prepared 
for  a  public  act  of  reparation. 

For  this  they  chose  the  Friday  after  the  octave  of 
Corpus  Christi,  the  day  fixed  by  the  eternal  decrees  to 
be  in  the  Church  the  great  day  of  adoration  of  the 
Heart  of  Jesus.  That  morning,  on  entering  the  choir, 
the  Sisters  perceived  in  the  middle  of  it  something  like 
a  little  repository.  They  drew  near,  and  looked  at  it. 
On  a  little  altar  covered  with  tapestry  was  exposed,  in 
the  midst  of  flowers  and  blessed  tapers,  a  picture  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  the  same  that  Mother  Greyfie  had  sent 
to  Margaret  Mary.  A  card,  signed  by  Sister  Madeleine, 
was  fastened  to  the  altar.  It  bore  on  it  an  invitation  to 
the  Sisters  to  kneel  and  consecrate  themselves  to  the 
Adorable  Heart  of  the  Lord.  No  longer  did  they 
hesitate.  The  old  without  exception,  led  by  Sister 
Madeleine,  the  young  conducted  by  Margaret  Mary,  in 
whose  enthusiasm  they  shared,  prostrated  like  two 
choirs  of  angels.  The  latter  offered  to  their  Lord 
joyous  adoration;  the  former,  prayers  mingled  with 
regrets, — all  uniting  to  form  the  purest  incense  most 
agreeable  to  God.  If  the  young  had  glorified  Him  by 
their  eagerness,  the  others  had  hardly  done  less  by  their 
prudence.  Saint  Margaret  Mary  and  Sister  Madeleine 
embraced,  and  henceforth  there  throbbed  in  that  convent 
but  one  heart  to  praise  God  and  to  adore  the  divine 
Heart  of  Jesus.  In  the  fervor  of  their  enthusiasm,  ai 
agreed  upon  the  erection  of  a  chapel  in  which  to  expose 
a  beautiful,  large  picture  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 

Whilst  awaiting  the  realization  of  this  project,  and 
the  better  to  repair  what  she  termed  her  fault,  Sister 
Marie-Madeleine  asked  to  be  allowed  the  care  of  the 
little  oratory  consecrated  by  the  novitiate  to  the  Heart 
of  Jesus.     "  I  tell  you  that  we  have  a  second  picture  of 


252   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

the  Sacred  Heart,  and  it  is  our  dear  Sister  de  Farges 
who  painted  it.  It  is,  as  I  have  desired,  for  the  little 
chapel  that  was  first  erected  to  the  honor  of  the  divine 
Heart.  Our  dear  Sister  des  Escures  has  charge  of  it, 
and  it  is  a  little  bijou,  so  beautifully  does  she  adorn 
it."  ' 

Margaret  Mary  did  not,  however,  lose  sight  of  her 
first  project.  A  picture  in  oil  was  all  very  well,  though 
capable  of  being  used  only  in  one  place.  Some  on 
vellum  done  with  the  pen  were,  consequently,  executed 
everywhere, — at  Paray,  Dijon,  Semur,  and  Moulins. 
But  notwithstanding  this  activity,  the  demand  for  these 
pictures  was  constant.  A  copper-plate  became  absolutely 
necessary  to  produce  them  in  considerable  numbers  and 
enable  them  to  be  distributed  among  the  faithful. 
Margaret  wrote  about  it  to  Mother  de  Saumaise,  who 
was  busily  occupied  at  the  time  in  having  a  large  pic- 
ture painted,  and  insisted  that  that  was  not  what  the 
Lord  demanded  of  her.  "  It  was  to  be,"  said  Margaret, 
"  a  picture  struck  from  a  stamp,  or  a  plate,  so  that  every 
one  could  freely  purchase  according  to  his  devotion."  2 

Meanwhile  a  Jesuit  Father  from  Lyons  proposed 
having  a  copper-plate  made.  He  urged  the  matter,  and 
showed  great  zeal  for  its  prosecution.  But  when,  at 
last,  he  received  the  commission  to  attend  to  it,  he 
failed  to  take  any  further  steps.  He  was,  in  truth, 
always  travelling,  always  on  missions.  He  promised 
everything,  but  accomplished  nothing.  At  last,  when 
sent  to  Aix,  he  proposed  taking  the  picture  with  him 
and  having  it  executed  there.  But  this  offer  was  not 
feasible.  After  a  thousand  difficulties,  Margaret  Mary 
succeeded  in  getting  the  model  out  of  his  hands.  She 
sent  it  next  to  Mother  de  Saumaise,  earnestly  conjuring 
her  to  undertake  the  work.  "  Behold,  my  dear  Mother," 
she  wrote,  "  the  drawing  that  the  good  Father  has  re- 
turned to  us,  though  not  without  real  dissatisfaction  ?' 
1  Letter  LXXX.  »  Letter  XXXIX. 


The  Apostolate  of  the  Sacred  Heart  begun.   253 

not  being  able  to  accomplish  the  work.  But  God  does 
all  for  the  best.  He  wills  the  picture  to  be  better  done; 
for  the  model,  of  which  the  Father  sent  us  the  copy,  is 
neither  pretty  nor  to  my  taste.  You  will  oblige  me 
infinitely  by  changing  it."1 

Mother  de  Saumaise  had  with  her  at  Dijon  a  young 
Sister,  Jeanne-Madeleine  Joly,  who  was  distinguished  by 
her  most  tender  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart.  To  her 
she  communicated  the  contents  of  this  letter,  and  ex- 
pressed the  wish  that  she  would  try  to  draw  another 
that  would  better  correspond  to  Margaret  Mary's  ideal. 
The  Sister  undertook  the  task  with  simplicity,  and  fully 
succeeded.  "  I  cannot  express,"  the  saintly  Sister 
wrote  immediately,  "my  sweet  transports  of  joy  on  re- 
ceiving your  model.  It  is  just  what  I  desired.  The 
consolation  I  experience  from  the  ardor  you  evince  for 
the  Sacred  Heart  is  beyond  my  power  to  express.  Go 
on  with  your  work,  my  dear  Sister,  for  I  hope  this 
divine  Heart  will  reign  in  spite  of  all  opposition.  As 
for  myself,  I  can  but  suffer  and  be  silent."  2  The  model 
which  corresponded  so  well  to  Margaret  Mary's  wishes 
was  not,  however,  executed  at  Dijon.  After  many  un- 
successful preliminaries,  it  was  sent  to  Paris,  where,  by 
the  help  of  the  first  convent,  the  copper-plate  so  long 
desired  was  finally  engraven. 

The  first  step  had  now  been  taken  for  the  royal 
glorification  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  the  diffusion  of 
its  devotion.  Besides  the  pictures  in  oil,  which  began 
to  multiply,  the  miniatures  on  vellum,  the  little  pastels 
the  pen  drawings  that  circulated  from  convent  to  con- 
vent and  were  already  distributed  on  the  missions, 
there  was  now,  after  innumerable  difficulties,  a  plate 
from  which  could  be  struck  as  many  copies  as  were 
needed  for  distribution  throughout  the  world. 

Useful,  however,  as  was  the  picture  in  making  known 
and  propagating  the  devotion  to  the  Sacred   Heart  't 
1  Letter  LX.  2  Letter  LXI. 


2 54  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

was  in  itself  far  from  being  sufficient.  A  book  explain- 
ing the  picture  now  became  necessary;  a  book  to  inter- 
pret the  devotion,  and  offer  to  the  faithful  suitable 
prayers,  litanies,  and  acts  of  adoration  and  reparation. 
Had  Margaret  Mary  been  commissioned  to  do  so,  she 
could  have  composed  on  this  subject  so  many  medita- 
tions, so  many  rapturous  effusions,  aspirations,  and 
prayers,  that  to  choose  from  them  would  have  been  an 
embarrassing  task.  But  who  would  have  dared  suggest 
such  a  thing  to  her  ?  That  would  have  been  to  plunge 
her  "even  to  the  centre  of  her  nothingness."  Sister 
Jeanne-Madeleine  Joly,  the  successful  artiste  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  conceived  the  idea  of  writing  a  little 
book  of  a  few  pages  only,  to  explain  the  picture.  She 
notified  Saint  Margaret  Mary  of  her  intention,  and 
received  in  return  most  hearty  congratulations  with  an 
urgent  request  to  hasten  the  work.1  Submitted  to  Mgr. 
de  Langres  and  approved  by  his  Vicar-General,  the 
tiny  manual  was  printed  before  the  end  of  the  year,  and 
copies  despatched  at  once  to  every  convent  of  the 
Order.2  It  accompanied  the  picture  and  rendered  it 
intelligible. 

At  Moulins,  Mother  de  Soudeilles  had  conceived  the 
same  idea  as  Sister  Joly.  She,  too,  composed  a  little 
work  on  devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  But,  less  dis- 
creet than  Sister  Joly,  she  inserted  some  prayers  and 
acts  of  consecration  composed  by  Margaret  Mary,  thus 
raising  a  corner  of  the  veil  under  which  the  latter  had 
so  carefully  concealed  herself.  "  We  send  you,"  wrote 
Margaret  Mary  to  Mother  de  Saumaise,  "  the  little  book 
that  Mother  de  Soudeilles  has  had  published.  After  its 
appearance,  some  persons  of  consideration  (but  who 
they  are  I  do  not  know)  made  her  a  present  of  the  Litan- 
ies of  the  Sacred  Heart,  the  Act  of  Reparation,  and  the 
rest;  and  that  has  given  me  what  I  deserve,  namely, 
frightful  confusion.  As  you  read  it,  you  will  clearly 
1  Letter  XLVII.  *  Letter  LXVI. 


The  Apostolate  of  the  Sacred  Heart  begun.   255 

understand  what  I  would  say.  I  need  not  explain 
further.  I  have  in  some  manner  reason  to  accuse  you; 
but  the  will  of  God  be  done  !" ' 

Soon  a  Little  Office  of  the  Sacred  Heart  appeared, 
composed  by  a  saintly  religious,  upon  whom  Margaret 
pronounced  an  extraordinary  eulogium.  He  is  so  con- 
cealed under  the  cloak  of  humility  that  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  we  were  able  to  discover  his  name.  The 
details  of  his  life  remain  to  us  a  secret.  All  we  know 
is  that  he  belonged  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  was 
called  Father  Gette.  "  You  ask  me  the  name  of  the 
saintly  religious  who,  in  the  thought  that  the  divine 
Heart  required  it  of  him,  has  composed  a  Little  Office 
of  the  Sacred  Heart.  Excuse  me  at  present  from  telling 
you.  I  can  say  only  that  he  will  be  a  second  Pere  de  la 
Colombiere," 2  The  Office  was  published,  and  shortly 
after  put  into  French  verse.  "Adieu,  my  dear  Mother  ! 
I  think  it  will  not  be  disagreeable  to  you  for  me  to  pre- 
sent to  you  a  copy  in  verse  of  the  Office  of  the  Sacred 
Heart.     It  is  considered  very  beautiful."3 

The  success  of  these  little  works,  joined  to  the  picture 
of  the  Sacred  Heart,  was  considerable.  The  demand 
for  them  everywhere  increased.  Every  one  wished  to 
have  them.  "  We  pray  your  charity  to  let  us  know 
whether  they  still  publish  those  little  Sacred  Heart  books ; 
and  if  you  do  us  the  favor  of  sending  us  some,  we  shall 
remain  infinitely  obliged  to  you.  You  cannot  conceive 
how  eagerly  they  are  asked  for."  4  And  again:  "  There 
is  such  a  demand  here  for  those  lutle  books  that  we  can 
never  have  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  devotion  of  every 
one."5  And  elsewhere:  "They  have  put  the  price  of 
this  book  at  seven  sous.  The  first  edition  having  been 
exhausted  in  a  wondrously  short  time,  behold  already 
a  second;  and  I  do  not  believe  it  will  stop  there."  6 

The  above  could   be  said  not  only  of  Paray,  Dijo^ 

1  Letter  LVIII.  "  Letter  LXXXIII. 

*  Letter  LXXXVII.  4  Letter  LXXXVIII. 

*  Letter  XCI.  '  Letter  Cll. 


250  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Semur,  Moulins,  the  places  in  which  the  devotion  took 
birth;  but  at  Lyons,  Marseilles,  Paris,  everywhere,  the 
same  eagerness  was  manifested.  "  I  must  tell  you  some- 
thing to  the  glory  of  the  divine  Heart,  which  will  lead 
you  to  bless  it  anew.  I  gave  a  person  from  Lyons  one 
of  the  little  books  of  Dijon.  She  sent  it  to  a  young 
Father,  who,  having  read  it,  showed  it  to  his  scholars 
at  Lyons.  They  liked  it  so  much  that  they  made  num- 
bers of  copies  of  the  litanies  and  prayers,  which  they  now 
recite  with  great  devotion.  These  children,  moreover, 
having  shown  them  to  others,  the  devotion  took  flights 
so  grand  that,  as  the  manuscript  copies  failed  to  meet 
the  demand,  they  resolved  to  have  the  book  printed,  and 
eagerly  offered  to  defray  the  expense  dependent  upon 
it.  A  young  workman  urged  the  point  with  so  much 
earnestness  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  yield  to  his 
importunities.  One  of  the  most  prominent  publishers  1 
of  Lyons  was  applied  to  for  the  purpose;  and,  touched 
by  the  love  of  the  divine  Heart,  he  took  the  resolution 
to  do  it  at  his  own  expense.  This  gave  rise  to  a  pious 
struggle  between  the  young  workman  and  himself.  The 
latter  having  gained  his  point,  he  demanded  the  book 
on  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  took  it  to  one  of  his  friends  to 
make  some  additions  to  it.  A  saintly  religious  under- 
took the  task.2  They  have  had  a  new  edition  printed, 
which  is  very  beautiful  and  well  bound.  The  demand 
for  it  has  been  so  great  that  they  have  had  a  second 
edition  of  it  since  June  19th.  This  is  only  August  21st, 
and  they  are  bringing  out  the  third  edition."  3 

The  little  book  begins  to  be  known  out  of  France.  "  I 
assure  you,  my  unique  Mother,  that  it  is  a  consolation 
for  all  that  love  it  to  see  the  devotion  extending  every- 
where. The  most  honored  Mother  of  our  first  convent 
of  Lyons  has  sent  it  to  Poland — I  mean  the  little  book 
for  which  they  asked,  and  which  they  are  going  to  trans- 
late into  Italian." ' 

1  Horace  Molin.  9  Pere  Croiset. 

*  Letter  CV.  *  Letter  CXIII. 


Altar  in  room  in  which  St.  Margaret  Mary  died,  since 
transformed  into  an  oratory. 


The  Apostolate  of  the  Sacred  Heart  begun.   257 

Margaret  Mary  again  writes,  October  22d,  1689: 
"What  consolation  to  hear  of  the  happy  progress  of  this 
sweet  devotion!  They  write  us  from  Lyons  that  the 
ardor  and  eagerness  with  which  souls  take  to  it  are  truly 
miraculous.  They  mention  three  or  four  cities  in  which 
the  book  is  going  to  be  published.  Marseilles  is  one  of 
them,  and  they  have  taken  a  thousand  for  that  place 
alone.  Of  the  twenty-seven  religious  houses  in  that 
city,  there  is  not  one  that  has  not  taken  up  this  devo- 
tion so  ardently  that  some  are  already  raising  altars, 
others  erecting  chapels  for  it." x  The  devotion  grew  of 
itself.  After  the  picture,  the  altar;  after  the  altar,  the 
chapel.  They  arose  everywhere.  This  was  a  species  of 
homage  that  was  still  wanting  to  the  Adorable  Heart  of 
Jesus;  one  superior  to  all  others,  because  more  brilliant, 
more  popular,  and  more  lasting. 

The  first  of  all  these  chapels,  that  which  had  been 
enthusiastically  agreed  upon  the  day  on  which  the  entire 
Community  of  the  convent  of  Paray  prostrated  before 
the  Heart  of  Jesus,  was  finished  September  7th,  1689,  and 
dedicated  with  extraordinary  solemnity.  "The  cures 
of  the  city  and  neighboring  parishes,  accompanied  by 
immense  crowds,  assembled  at  the  parish  church,  and 
then  came  in  procession  to  our  inclosure.  The  cere- 
mony began  at  one  o'clock,  and  lasted  two  hours."2 
On  the  altar  was  exposed  the  picture  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  that  Mother  de  Saumaise  had  had  enlarged  from 
Mother  Greyfie's  miniature,  and  of  which  Margaret 
Mary  had  said:  "I  could  not  refrain  from  looking  at  it, 
for  it  is  so  beautiful."  8 

During  the  two  hours  that  the  pious  ceremony  lasted, 
our  humble  and  happy  Margaret  knelt  in  the  chapel,  so 
ravished  and  abyssed  in  God  that,  among  the  many  who 
so  greatly  desired  to  speak  to  her,  not  one  dared  do  so. 
Numbers  that  had  never  before  seen  her  regarded  her 
with   curiosity.      They  surrounded    her   on   all    sides. 

1  Letter  CVIII.  5  Contemp. ,  p.  282.  3  Letter  LXXVIII. 


258  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Some  even  watched  to  see  whether  she  would  change 
her  position;  but  she  knelt  immovable  as  a  statue} 

What  was  passing  at  that  moment  in  the  interior  of 
this  holy  lover  of  Jesus  ?  That  is  a  secret  she  never 
betrayed.  But  on  beholding  the  triumph  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  her  soul  must  have  cried  out  with  the  aged 
Simeon:  "Now  I  shall  die  content,  since  the  Heart  of 
my  Saviour  begins  to  be  known  and  adored." 

The  only  regret  we  can  have  is  that  this  chapel  is 
built  in  the  middle  of  the  garden,  in  a  place  inaccessible 
to  the  people,  instead  of  being  located  on  the  street. 
But  piety  was  not  to  be  checked  by  any  obstacle.  The 
people  made  the  tour  of  the  garden;  and  peasants 
were  seen  kneeling  outside,  leaning  against  the  walls, 
their  gaze  turned  toward  that  first  temple  in  which  was 
publicly  adored  the  Heart  of  Jesus.2  Then  began 
the  triumphal  march  of  this  great  and  tender  devotion 
to  Infinite  Love!  We  can  trace  its  progress  in  each  of 
Margaret  Mary's  letters.  Hidden  and  obscure  at 
first,  concealed,  so  to  say,  in  the  shadow  of  the  cloister, 
we  behold  it  clearing  the  grates,  overcoming  all  bar- 
riers, and  appearing  in  full  daylight.  The  chapel  of 
Paray  was  soon  followed  'by  a  second,  that  of  Bois- 
Sainte-Marie,  built  by  Margaret's  own  brother.  Then 
came  that  of  Dijon,  and  a  little  later  those  of  Moulins 
and  Semur.  Each  Visitation  house  was  soon  to  have 
its  own.  The  devotion  was  begun.  "  I  am  most  consoled 
to  be  able  to  tell  you  that  great  devotion  is  here  enter- 
tained to  the  divine  Heart  of  Jesus.  Some  persons  who 
made  novenas  with  lighted  tapers  have  received  what 
they  asked." 3  "  I  have  heard  that  a  congregation  is 
about  to  be  erected  under  the  title  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
of  Jesus.  I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  at  Paris  or  not, 
but  I  do  know  that  there  is  another  entirely  dedicated 
to  its  honor."4 

1  Contemp. ,  p.  282.  2  Letter  CXIV. 

8  lb.  *  Letter  CI. 


The  A  postdate  of  the  Sacred  Heart  begun.   259 

The  last  and  highest  act  of  homage,  however,  still 
remained  to  be  rendered.  Hitherto  the  devotion  had 
been  individual  and  private.  To  crown  the  honor  thus 
far  rendered  the  Sacred  Heart,  public  worship  must  be 
joined  to  private,  the  Holy  Sacrifice  must  be  solemnly 
offered  in  honor  of  the  Adorable  Heart.  Again  it  was 
to  little  Sister  Jeanne-Marie  Joly  that  this  initiative  glory 
belonged.  Grown  courageous  in  her  love,  she  dared 
even  to  compose  a  Mass  in  honor  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus. 
This  she  did  in  French,  for  she  knew  no  other  language. 
Then  she  begged  good  M.  Charolaise,  confessor  to  the 
Community,  to  put  it  into  Latin,  after  which  it  was  sent 
to  Bishop  de  Langres,  with  importunate  entreaties  tha^ 
he  would  be  pleased  to  authorize  its  public  celebration 
in  the  convent.  The  kind  and  saintly  prelate  joyfully 
accorded  the  favor  asked. 

So  far  so  good.  But  even  this  could  satisfy  neither 
Sister  Joly  nor  Mother  de  Saumaise  nor  the  Community 
of  Dijon.  The  bishop's  approbation,  they  declared, 
must  be  followed  by  that  of  the  Pope.  A  copy  of  the 
Mass  was  sent  to  the  Superioress  of  the  Visitation  at 
Rome,  with  the  request  that  it  might  be  shown  to  Cardi- 
nal Ciborio,  and  by  him  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff.  They 
implored  His  Holiness,  very  humbly  indeed,  but  very 
importunately,  to  be  pleased  to  accord  his  authorization 
to  the  public  celebration  throughout  the  whole  Church 
of  the  feast  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 

This  was  a  bold  stroke  on  the  part  of  humble  religious. 
What  the  prayers  of  our  saint  were  during  the  negotia- 
tions, none  can  say;  but  in  her  letters  is  discerned  a 
species  of  impatience  not  at  all  usual  to  her.1  "It 
seems  to  me  that  I  shall  die  content  if  you  obtain  the 
authorization  of  the  Mass  in  honor  of  the  Adorable 
Heart  of  Jesus."2 

Rome's  answer  was  long  in  coming.  Rome  is  never 
in  a  hurry.  Rome  is  patient,  because  she  is  wise.  Rome 
1  Letter  LXXXIII.  2  Letter  XCIII. 


260  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

is  slow,  because  she  is  eternal.  But  when  the  answer 
did  come,  it  pierced  the  heart  of  Margaret  Mary  as  with 
a  sword  of  sorrow.1  Rome  replied  that  the  time  had 
not  yet  come  for  an  approbation  that  would  extend  to 
the  universal  Church. 

But  on  the  kind  representations  of  Cardinal  Ciborio, 
the  Mother  Superioress  of  the  Visitation  at  Rome  added 
that  there  was  no  reason  for  discouragement;  that  it 
was  necessary,  first,  to  have  the  devotion  publicly  estab- 
lished in  the  diocese  with  permission  of  the  Ordinary; 
and,  when  it  should  have  been  in  existence  for  some 
time,  it  would  be  more  easy  to  obtain  Rome's  decision 
in  its  favor. 

Directed  by  counsel  so  wise,  and  sustained  by  Mar- 
garet Mary,  who  most  confidently  affirmed  that,  in  spite 
of  contradiction,  the  Heart  of  Jesus  would  triumph, 
Mother  de  Saumaise,  or  rather  Mother  Desbarres,  now 
Superioress  at  Dijon,  addressed  herself  to  Bishop  de 
Langres,  and  supplicated  him  to  be  pleased  to  permit 
the  public  celebration  of  the  feast  of  the  Sacred  Heart, 
not  only  in  the  convent  of  Dijon,  but  in  the  whole  dio- 
cese. The  authorization  having  been  granted,  prepara- 
tions were  begun  at  the  convent  for  the  solemn  honoring 
of  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  However,  as  the  public  cere- 
mony could  not  take  place  until  after  Easter,  to  satisfy 
the  impatience  of  the  Sisters  a  little  private  feast  was 
organized.  A  picture  of  the  Sacred  Heart  was  placed 
in  the  sanctuary  of  the  religious,  and  M.  Bouhier,  the 
Superior  of  the  Visitation,  celebrated  the  Mass,  Febru- 
ary 4,  1689,  on  the  first  Friday  of  the  month,  in  presence 
of  the  Community  alone.  This  Mass  was  the  first  ever 
said  in  the  Catholic  Church  in  honor  of  the  Heart  of 
Jesus.  We  leave  you  to  imagine  the  delight  of  Mother 
de  Saumaise,  Sister  Joly,  Mother  Desbarres,  and  of  all 
those  chosen  souls  who,  urged  on  by  love  so  pure  for 
the  Heart  of  their  Beloved,  to  reach  the  result  just  at- 
1  Letter  LXXXVII. 


The  Apostolate  of  the  Sacred  Heart  begun.    261 

tained,  had  done  so  much,  had  struggled  so  hard.  It 
was  a  heavenly  day  like  unto  that  on  which  the  first 
adoration  of  the  Sacred  Heart  took  place  in  the  little 
oratory  of  Paray.  From  that  time  the  picture  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  was  exposed  every  first  Friday  in  the 
sanctuary  of  the  religious,  who  passed  almost  the  entire 
day  kneeling  before  the  Heart  of  their  Divine  Master. 
Nothing  could  drive  them  from  it. 

The  public  fete  took  place  after  Easter.  The  Ducal 
Chapter  of  the  Holy  Chapel  went  in  procession  to  the 
church  of  the  Visitation,  and  there  with  musical  accom- 
paniment sang  the  Mass  of  which  we  have  spoken.1 
The  Blessed  Sacrament  was  exposed  all  day  in  the  midst 
of  an  unusual  concourse,  and  shortly  after  a  Confra- 
ternity for  the  Perpetual  Adoration  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
was  established.  The  whole  city  wished  to  belong  to 
it  ;  and  in  a  few  days  were  recorded  "  six  large  vol- 
umes of  names,  among  them  some  of  the  most  illustrious 
of  the  province."  The  first  hour  of  adoration  was  made 
by  a  venerable  canon  of  the  Holy  Chapel,  M.  Benigne 
Joly,  a  man  of  extraordinary  sanctity,  the  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul  of  Burgundy,  the  founder  and  promoter  of  all 
the  great  works  of  Dijon,  whom  the  people  had  sur- 
named  the  Father  of  the  Poor,  and  to  whom  the  Church 
has  decreed  the  title  of  Venerable.  Public  devotion  to 
the  Sacred  Heart  had  been  solemnly  inaugurated. 

Thus,  little  by  little,  remaining  hidden  as  far  as  she 
possibly  could,  without  noise,  without  issuing  from  her 
obscurity,  did  Margaret  Mary  begin  to  enlist  adorers 
for  the  Heart  of  her  well-beloved  Spouse.  Public  de- 
votion succeeded  private.  Already,  even  without  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  humble  Margaret,  excepting  that 
made  by  her  desires  and  prayers,  the  new  devotion  had 
been  knocking  at  the  doors  of  the  Vatican,  and  had 
awakened  the  attention  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff.     It  was 

1  Annals  of  the  Visitation,  by  M.  1'Abbe  Colet  (now  Bishop  of 
Lu£on),  p.  146. 


262  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

easy  to  foresee,  whatever  might  be  the  prudence  of  the 
Church  in  things  so  delicate,  that  a  little  sooner  or 
later  devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  would  be  enthroned 
on  every  altar  of  Christendom. 

The  facts  thus  far  rehearsed  were  accomplished 
toward  the  middle  of  1689.  And  now  Saint  Margaret 
Mary  had  only  a  few  months  more  to  live.  We  might 
think  her  mission  ended;  but  most  unexpectedly  her 
sinking  to  rest  was  lighted  up  by  new  celestial  beams. 
On  the  brink  of  the  tomb,  she  received  a  new  revela- 
tion, as  brilliant  as  any  of  her  youth.  In  it  God  showed 
her  His  great  designs  upon  France,  as  well  as  another 
unexpected  and  admirable  phase  of  the  devotion  to  the 
Heart  of  Jesus. 


The  Last  Grand  Revelation.  263 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    LAST   GRAND   REVELATION— THE   KING   AND 

FRANCE. 

1689. 

"Vive  le  Christ,  qui  aime  les  Franks!" 

"  Long  live  Christ,  who  loves  the  Franks!  " — Prologue  of  the  SaHc 
Law. 

"  Non  fecit  taliter  omni  nationi." 

"  He  hath  not  done  in  like  manner  to  every  nation." — Ps.  cxlvii.  20. 

'HE  revelation  of  the  Sacred  Heart  is,  beyond  doubt, 
after  that  of  the  Incarnation  and  the  Holy  Eu- 
charist, the  most  important  of  the  revelations 
that  have  enlightened  the  Church.  It  is  the  most  re- 
splendent ray  of  light  since  Pentecost.  Margaret  Mary 
went  so  far  as  to  declare  that  the  Heart  of  Jesus  would 
be  in  the  Church  as  a  "  New  Mediator;"  '  that  is  to  say, 
as  we  can  reach  the  Father  only  through  the  Divine  Son 
become  incarnate  for  us:  in  like  manner  we  can  hence- 
forth reach  the  Son  only  by  addressing  ourselves  to  the 
infinite  love  of  His  Heart.  This  was  Almighty  God's 
first  design.  He  had  for  end,  as  we  have  seen,  to  dissi- 
pate the  darkness,  to  melt  the  ice  that  had  accumulated, 
and  to  revive  in  the  Church  the  fire  of  immolation  and 
sacrifice. 

But  besides  this  first  design,  He  had  another  relative 
to  France,  and  in  which  we  shall  again  discover  that 
love  of  God  for  the  Franks  which  for  fifteen  hundred 
years,  notwithstanding  our  infidelities,  has  never  aban- 
doned us,  and  which  is  in  a  measure  increased  in  propor- 
tion even  to  our  ingratitude.  We  might  have  been  able 
to  suspect  something  of  this  second  design,  seeing  first 

1  Letter  XLIII. 


264  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

that  France  was  the  chosen  of  all  nations  for  the  theatre 
of  the  manifestations  of  Infinite  Love;  and  that  it  was 
to  a  French  virgin,  to  a  French  religious  Order,  that 
God  showed  the  high  honor  of  being  the  confidants,  the 
apostles,  and  the  first  adorers  of  His  divine  Heart.  If 
we  remark  the  nature  of  our  wounds  during  the  seven- 
teenth and  the  eighteenth  centuries,  we  shall  not  fail  to 
see  how  sweetly,  how  delicately,  how  efficaciously  this 
sublime  devotion  was  adapted  to  their  cure.  Lastly, 
one  might  have  been  able  to  arrive  at  this  conclusion, 
had  he  observed  that  it  corresponds  not  less  perfectly 
to  the  noble  and  sublime  side  of  the  French  nature. 
Hence,  one  might  have  been  able  to  foresee  that,  sooner 
or  later,  France  would  succumb  to  the  charm  of  such  a 
doctrine;  and  that,  when  all  Christendom  would  have 
been  subjected  to  the  adoration  of  a  Heart  wounded  by 
love,  there  would  be  between  the  French  heart  and  that 
devotion  so  great  an  affinity  that  it  would  enthusiasti- 
cally vow  itself  to  its  propagation;  and  that,  once  regen- 
erated in  its  flames,  it  would  regenerate  the  world.  The 
distance,  however,  between  the  epoch  of  which  we  speak 
and  that  which  was  to  realize  the  perfect  beauty  of  God's 
designs  over  France  was  very,  very  great. 

There  are  some  saints,  even  contemplatives,  who 
acquaint  themselves  with  the  affairs  of  their  times,  and 
who  take  part  in  them  with  the  double  glory  of  divine 
and  human  light.  Witness  a  St.  Teresa,  whose  admira- 
ble correspondence  with  Philip  II.  deserves  to  be  better 
known,  and  which  shows  that  great  saint  in  an  aspect 
altogether  new.  But  our  saintly  Sister  appears  not  in 
such  a  character.  Born  in  an  obscure  village,  hardly 
had  she  buried  herself  in  an  unknown  cloister,  in  the 
midst  of  an  unimportant  town,  than  she  is  no  more  of 
this  earth.  She  cares  not  for  the  politics  of  nations;  she 
alludes  not  in  her  letters  to  what  was  then  agitating  her 
contemporaries.  If  Jansenism,  in  denying  or  depreci- 
ating Infinite   Love,   began  to  straiten  and  dry  up  the 


The  Last  Grand  Revelation.  265 

heart  of  man;  if  rationalism,  the  involuntary  son  of 
Descartes,  in  isolating  mind  from  the  other  faculties, 
and  particularly  in  separating  the  soul  from  the  heart, 
continues  and  aggravates  its  detestable  work;  if  sensism 
finishes  by  corrupting  the  heart;  if  ancient  morals  de- 
cay; if  Louis  XIV.  passed  from  the  guilty  love  of  Mile, 
de  la  Valliere  to  the  shameful  rule  of  Mme.  de  Monte- 
span,  leading  the  dance  that  merrily  whirled  the  French 
Empire  to  its  ruin;  if  the  heart,  attacked  by  so  many 
enemies  at  the  same  time,  was  on  the  point  of  perishing, 
— would  it  not,  at  least,  be  elevated,  purified,  restored 
to  health  by  contact  with  a  pure  heart  ?  We  repeat,  it 
was  not  thus  that  things  presented  themselves  to  the 
eyes  of  Margaret  Mary.  She  saw  only  her  Well-beloved. 
She  knew  only  that  men  do  not  love  Him;  that  they 
forget  Him  and  betray  Him;  that  for  the  benefits  He 
lavishes  upon  them  He  reaps  only  outrage.  About 
their  various  degrees  of  sinfulness,  about  the  difference 
between  their  offences  of  to-day  and  those  offered  Him 
in  past  ages,  she  cared  little.  And,  in  truth,  that  was 
of  little  consequence. 

Once,  however,  she  received  a  divine  illumination  on 
the  disorders  of  the  king  and  the  court.  The  Superior- 
ess said  to  her  one  day:  "  Go  and  take  the  king's  place 
before  the  Blessed  Sacrament."  Margaret  Mary  obeyed. 
All  the  time  that  she  remained  there,  she,  angelic  purity 
itself,  was  assailed  by  thoughts  and  imaginations  that 
filled  her  with  horror.  This  experience  was  several 
times  renewed.  Her  Superioress  was  obliged,  at  last, 
to  withdraw  her  from  a  ministry  in  which  she  experi- 
enced torments  to  her  so  strange  and  new. 

On  another  occasion  she  remarked,  in  one  of  her  let- 
ters, that  she  perceived  "  a  strange  spirit  of  pride  "  prowl- 
ing around  the  Visitation, — a  strange  spirit  of  pride, 
which  wished  to  substitute  itself  for  that  of  humility 
and  simplicity,  the  "  foundation  of  the  whole  edifice."  ' 

1  Letter  XLIII. 


266  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

That  "  spirit  of  pride  "  was  Jansenism.  But  the  saint 
did  not  know  its  name.  She  had  seen  it,  not  in  the 
light  of  history,  but  in  that  of  God.  She  had  beheld  it 
in  ecstasy. 

These  are  the  only  allusions  in  Margaret's  writings 
that  refer  to  contemporary  events.  Nothing,  then,  had 
prepared  her  for  the  grand  revelation  now  about  to  be 
made  to  her.  Her  companions,  her  friends,  her  old  and 
valued  Superiors,  were  even  less  prepared  for  it  than 
she.  The  first  revelation  related  to  the  Church,  and  it 
gave  rise  to  tempests.  Those  regarding  France  seem 
to  have  remained  either  unknown  or  ignored,  for  con- 
temporaries make  no  mention  of  it.  Mgr.  Languet 
himself  did  not  even  suspect  their  existence:  and  how 
could  he,  since  they  have  been  known  scarcely  ten 
years  ?  Like  those  pages  whose  invisible  characters 
appear  only  when  approached  to  fire,  the  flame  of  revo- 
lutions was  necessary  to  draw  from  the  obscurity  of 
their  archives  the  writings  that  record  those  revelations, 
and  to  direct  attention  to  them  after  they  had  appeared. 
And  who  knows  whether  or  not  we  possess  all  the 
monuments  of  that  national  revelation,  as  glorious  to 
France  as  the  conversion  of  Clovis  or  the  mission  of 
Joan  of  Arc? 

Behold,  at  least,  what  we  do  possess  of  it,  namely, 
three  letters  addressed  in  1689  to  Mother  de  Saumaise; 
admirable  letters,  in  some  of  which  the  reader  may  de- 
tect a  certain  solemnity,  and  in  others  a  certain  im- 
patience and  fear  of  not  being  understood.  They  are 
like  the  last  scene  of  the  grand  drama  that  so  graphi- 
cally depicts  the  manifestations  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus. 

The  first  letter  bears  date  February  23,  1689,  and  is 
written  to  Mother  de  Saumaise  to  thank  her  for  what 
she  had  done  toward  promoting  devotion  to  the  Sacred 
Heart.  In  it  we  see  broached,  though  in  vague  words, 
the  social  and  national  side  of  that  sublime  devotion. 
"  Ah,  what  happiness  for  you,"  she  says,  "  and  for  those 


The  Last  Grand  Revelation.  267 

that  contribute  to  it;  for  they  draw  upon  themselves  the 
friendship  and  eternal  benedictions  of  this  amiable 
Heart,  and  a  powerful  protection  on  our  country.  It  will 
not  be  less  effectual  to  turn  away  the  vengeance  and  severity  of 
the  just  anger  of  God  for  so  many  crimes  committed  against 
it."  She  adds:  "  But  I  hope  the  divine  Heart  will  be- 
come an  inexhaustible  source  of  mercy.  It  wishes  only 
to  establish  its  reign  among  us,  in  order  to  grant  us 
more  abundantly  its  precious  graces  of  sanctification 
and  salvation." 

To  show  how  necessary  it  is  that  repentance  should 
begin  where  sin  had  begun,  she  says:  "  One  thing  that 
consoles  me  much  is  that  I  hope,  in  exchange  for  the 
bitterness  this  divine  Heart  suffered  in  the  palaces  of 
the  great  during  the  ignominies  of  His  Passion,  this  de- 
votion will  in  time  magnificently  flourish  therein.  Pur- 
sue, then,  courageously  what  you  have  undertaken  for 
His  glory  in  the  establishment  of  His  reign.  The 
Sacred  Heart  will  reign  in  spite  of  Satan  and  all 
that  may  rise  up  to  oppose  it.  But  now  is  the  time  to 
work  and  suffer  in  silence,  as  He  has  done  for  our  love."  ' 

The  second  letter,  though  in  a  different  sense,  is  much 
more  important.  It  was  written  on  coming  out  of  ecs- 
tasy, on  the  Feast  of  the  Sacred  Heart  itself,  Friday  after 
the  octave  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  June  17,  1689.  The 
Spirit  of  God  had  rested  on  the  holy  Sister,and  displayed 
to  her  in  prophetic  light  His  designs  of  mercy  on  France. 

There  is  to  the  devotion  of  the  Sacred  Heart  a  private 
and  a  social  side.     Margaret  Mary  begins  with  the  first. 

M  In  fine,  my  dear  Mother,"  she  writes,  "  are  we  not 
all  consumed  in  the  burning  heat  of  His  pure  love  ?  It 
will  reign,  this  amiable  Heart,  in  spite  of  Satan,  his 
imps  and  his  agents.  This  word  transports  me  with 
joy.  But  to  be  able  to  express  to  you  the  great  graces 
and  benedictions  it  will  attract  upon  all  that  shall  have 
procured  it  the  most  honor  and  glory  is  what  I  cannot 
do  in  the  way  that  He  has  given  me  to  understand  it. 
1  Letter  of  February  23,  1689. 


268   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

"  He  has  made  me  see  the  devotion  to  His  Sacred 
Heart  as  a  beautiful  tree,  destined  from  all  eternity  to 
spring  up  and  take  root  in  the  midst  of  our  Institute, 
and  to  extend  its  branches  into  the  houses  that  compose 
it,  so  that  each  may  gather  from  it  fruits  most  pleasing 
to  her  liking  and  taste.  But  He  desires  that  the  daugh- 
ters of  the  Visitation  should  distribute  abundantly  to 
all  that  will  eat  of  it  the  fruits  of  this  sacred  tree.  By 
this  means  He  desires  to  restore  life  to  many;  and,  by 
withdrawing  them  from  the  way  of  perdition,  and  de- 
stroying the  empire  of  Satan  in  their  heart,  to  estab- 
lish in  them  that  of  His  love." 

Behold  the  first  design,  the  supernatural,  the  special 
side  of  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart,  that  which  re- 
gards souls  at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  Margaret 
Mary  continues:  "But  He  does  not  wish  to  stop  here. 
He  has  still  greater  designs,  which  can  be  executed  only 
by  His  almighty  power." 

Which  are  those  designs  that  the  Saint  calls  the 
greatest,  and  for  which  she  invokes  the  All-powerful  ? 

"  He  desires,  then,  it  seems  to  me,  to  enter  with 
pomp  and  magnificence  into  the  palaces  of  kings  and 
princes,  therein  to  be  honored  as  much  as  He  has  been 
despised,  humiliated,  and  outraged  in  His  Passion. 
May  He  receive  as  much  pleasure  therein  at  seeing  the 
great  ones  of  the  world  abasing  and  humbling  them- 
selves before  Him  as  He  once  felt  bitterness  at  behold- 
ing Himself  annihilated  at  their  feet!" 

The  tone  of  these  words  convinces  one  that  Margaret 
Mary,  when  uttering  them,  was  in  a  sort  of  ecstasy. 
What  follows  leaves  no  room  for  doubt  on  the  subject. 

"  Here  are,"  she  continues,  "  the  words  that  I  heard 
on  this  point:  'Make  known  to  the  eldest  son  of  My 
Heart,'  speaking  of  our  king,  '  that  as  his  temporal 
birth  was  obtained  through  devotion  to  the  merits 
of  My  holy  childhood,  in  the  same  manner  He  will 
obtain  his  birth  of  grace  and  eternal  glory  by  the 


The  Last  Grand  Revelation.  269 

CONSECRATION    THAT    HE    WILL    MAKE   OF    HIMSELF    TO    My 

Adorable  Heart,  which  wishes  to  triumph  over  his 
heart,  and  by  his  mediation  over  those  of  the  great 
ones  of  the  world.     It  wishes  to  reign  in  his  palace, 

TO  BE  PAINTED  ON  HIS  STANDARDS  AND  ENGRAVEN  ON  HIS 
ARMS,  IN  ORDER  TO  RENDER  HIM  VICTORIOUS  OVER  ALL  HIS 
ENEMIES.'  " 

Margaret  Mary  spoke  only  of  the  king,  because,  in 
the  spirit  of  those  times,  the  king  and  France  were  one. 
The  king  personified  all  the  souls  of  France  living  and 
breathing  in  one  single  soul. 

To  comprehend  Almighty  God's  request  with  regard 
to  the  standard,  we  must  recall  that,  from  the  earliest 
ages,  France  had  always  had  a  sacred  standard,  one 
that  was  not  borne  to  vulgar  combats  ;  one  that  rested 
in  the  sanctuary  of  St.  Denis  under  the  shadow  of 
the  country's  holy  protectors.  It  was  removed  from 
its  sacred  shrine  only  when  the  monarch  headed  the 
army,  when  it  was  solemnly  sought  in  the  hour  of 
greatest  danger,  or  when  it  was  to  be  carried  afar  to  the 
holy  wars.  It  symbolized  the  religious  soul  of  France, 
and  floated  like  a  sacred  prayer  amid  the  nation's 
banners.  It  was  a  standard  of  this  kind  that  God  had 
given  to  Joan  of  Arc.  He  had  prescribed  its  form  and 
emblems,  and  communicated  to  it  the  secret  virtue  that 
roused  exhausted  France  to  unhoped-for  triumphs.  To- 
day, through  the  lips  of  the  virgin  of  Paray,  God  asked 
of  the  king  of  France  something  of  the  same  kind,  a 
sacred  standard  which  was  to  symbolize  an  act  of  faith. 
It  was  to  be  borne  side  by  side  with  the  nation's  flag, 
and,  in  a  voice  that  could  be  distinctly  heard  above 
the  proverbial  bravado  of  her  enemies,  proclaim  that 
France  places  her  trust  in  the  blessing  of  God. 

Mother  de  Saumaise  was  probably  rather  surprised 
by  so  serious  a  communication  and  one  that  tallied  so 
little  with  what  she  knew  of  Margaret  Mary's  humility. 
She   made  no  reply,  and  our  sweet  and  humble  Mar- 


270  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

guerite  became  anxious  at  her  silence.  Were  her  letters 
lost?  Would  Mother  de  Saumaise,  until  then  so  cou- 
rageous for  the  interests  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  hesitate 
before  this  new  perspective  ?  Again  she  wrote  to  her, 
August  12,  1689  :  "  I  declare  to  you,  my  dear  Mother, 
that  your  silence  regarding  the  two  long  letters  that  I 
have  had  the  honor  to  write  you  has  given  me  a  little 
pain.  I  know  not  to  what  to  attribute  it,  except  that 
perhaps  I  have  set  down  my  thoughts  too  freely  and 
simply.  I  should  perhaps  have  kept  them  concealed 
under  an  humble  silence.  You  have  only  to  tell  me  this, 
and  I  assure  you  that  it  will  greatly  gratify  my  inclina- 
tion never  to  speak  of  these  things,  but  to  bury  them  in 
the  secret  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  my  Divine  Master.  He 
is  witness  of  the  violence  that  I  must  do  myself  to  speak 
of  them.  I  should  never  have  resolved  to  do  so,  had 
He  not  made  known  to  me  that  it  is  for  the  interest  of  His 
glory;  and  for  that  I  should  cheerfully  sacrifice  millions 
of  lives,  if  I  had  them,  through  my  great  desire  to  make 
Him  known,  loved,  and  adored.  But  perhaps  you 
have  not  received  my  letters,  and  that  would  be  still  more 
afflicting  to  me."  1  It  was  perhaps  in  the  fear  that  these 
letters  were  lost,  and  that  in  the  event  of  her  death  her 
secret  might  not  descend  with  her  into  the  tomb,  that 
Margaret  Mary  reduced  to  writing  the  following.  It 
was  in  the  month  of  August,  some  days  after  the  12th, 
perhaps  the  25th,  the  feast  of  St.  Louis.  It  is  less  a 
letter  than  a  sort  of  declaration,  throughout  which 
reign  unaccountable  solemnity  and  majesty  : 

"  Live  »|«  Jesus  ! 

"August,  1689. 

"  The  Eternal  Father,  wishing  to  repair  the  bitter- 
ness and  agony  that  the  Adorable  Heart  of  His  Divine 
Son  endured  in  the  palaces  of  earthly  princes,  amidst 
the  humiliations  and  outrages  of  His  Passion,  wishes  to 
establish  His  empire  in  the  heart  of  our  great  monarch, 
1  Letter  of  August  I2»  i68q. 


The  Last  Grand  Revelation.  271 

of  whom  He  desires  to  make  use  in  the  execution  of 
His  design,  which  is  to  have  an  edifice  erected  in  which 
shall  be  a  picture  of  His  divine  Heart,  to  receive  the  conse- 
cration and  homage  of  the  king  and  all  the  court. 

"  Moreover,  this  divine  Heart  wishes  to  make  itself 
the  defender  of  the  sacred  person  of  the  king,  his  pro- 
tector against  all  his  enemies.  Therefore  has  it  chosen 
him  as  its  faithful  friend,  to  have  the  Mass  authorized 
by  the  Holy  Apostolic  See,  and  to  obtain  all  the  other 
privileges  that  ought  to  accompany  devotion  to  this 
divine  Heart. 

"  It  is  by  this  divine  Heart  that  God  wishes  to  dis- 
pense the  treasures  of  His  graces  of  sanctification  and 
salvation,  by  bestowing  His  benediction  on  the  king's 
undertakings,  according  a  happy  success  to  his  arms, 
and  making  him  triumph  over  the  malice  of  his  ene- 
mies." 

A  consecration  of  the  nation  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  a 
national  temple  raised  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  an  inscrip- 
tion to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  on  the  national  standard — 
this  is  what  Our  Lord  asked  of  the  blessed  Sister. 
Under  this  condition  He  will  render  the  king,  that  is, 
France,  victorious  over  all  her  enemies,  and  will  give 
her  an  eternal  reign  of  honor  and  glory. 

Saint  Margaret  Mary  then  goes  on  to  recount  the 
best  means  for  realizing  this  plan  ;  the  best  means  for 
reaching  the  ears  of  Louis  XIV.  She  mentions  Pere  de 
la  Chaise,  the  king's  confessor,  who  at  this  time  enjoyed 
great  favor.  "If  the  goodness  of  God,"  says  she,  "  in- 
spires this  great  servant  of  the  Divine  Majesty  to  em- 
ploy the  power  He  has  given  him,  he  may  rest  assured 
that  he  has  never  done  an  action  more  useful  to  God's 
glory,  more  salutary  to  his  own  soul,  nor  for  which  he 
will  be  better  recompensed. 

"  It  will  be  very  difficult,  on  account  of  the  great  ob- 
stacles Satan  purposes  putting  in  the  way,  as  well  as  of 
£.11  the  other  difficulties   God   will  permit  in   order  to 


272  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

make  His  power  seen.  He  can  effect  all  that  He* 
pleases,  though  He  does  not  always  do  so,  not  wishing 
to  do  violence  to  man's  will.  For  this  we  must  pray  much 
and  get  prayers. 

We  may  have  remarked  that  in  all  these  letters  there 
breathes  a  deep  and  holy  enthusiasm.  The  Heart  of 
Jesus  will  reign  in  spite  of  its  enemies  !  All  that 
God  wishes  from  France — that  national  consecration, 
that  national  temple,  that  inscription  to  the  Heart  of 
Jesus  on  a  standard, — all  will  be  accomplished  ;  but  it 
will  take  time,  and  nothing  less  than  the  omnipotence  of  God 
is  necessary.  Fearful  misfortunes  will,  moreover,  take 
place  in  the  mean  time. 

We  have  not  Mother  de  Saumaise's  answer  to  this 
letter  of  August,  1689.  She  who  had  known  how  to 
reach  Rome  and  arouse  the  thoughts  of  the  Sovereign 
Pontiffs  would  neglect  nothing  to  reach  even  Louis 
XIV.  We  know  that  she  had  recourse  to  the  Superioress 
of  the  Visitation  of  Chaillot,  the  refuge  of  Mile,  de  la 
Fayette,  where  dwelt  the  queen  of  England,  and  which 
held,  so  to  say,  its  door  open  to  the  court  of  Louis 
XIV.  Might  it  happen  that  Pere  de  la  Chaise  would 
not  dare  to  speak  of  it  to  the  king?  Might  it  happen 
that  Louis  XIV. 's  soul  would  not  be  sufficiently  humble 
to  comprehend  the  Christian  grandeur  of  such  a  thought? 
Be  that  as  it  may,  those  tender  and  magnanimous  ad- 
vances to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  were  not  understood,  and 
Margaret  Mary's  last  admonitions  were  without  avail, 
were  lost  in  oblivion.  They  were,  indeed,  her  last 
words,  for  we  are  at  the  close  of  1689,  and  she  was  near- 
ing  her  death. 

1689  !  Involuntarily  we  pause  at  this  date,  for  it 
evokes  another,  1789  !  A  century  has  just  rolled  by  be- 
tween the  epoch  in  which  an  humble  virgin,  hidden  in 
the  depths  of  a  cloister,  pointed  out  to  Louis  XIV.  the 
ark  of  salvation  prepared  for  him  by  the  goodness  of 
God,  and   that  other  epoch  in  which  arose  the  storm 


The  Last  Grand  Revelation,  273 

that  was  to  sweep  away  the  monarchy,  and  with  it  all 
other  monarchies.  If  told  in  the  days  of  his  splendor 
of  the  perils  in  store  for  France,  of  the  necessity  of  seek- 
ing a  remedy,  a  shelter  far  above  man,  yea,  even  in  the 
Adorable  Heart  of  Jesus,  Louis  XIV.  would  have  smiled 
incredulously.  And  yet  this  was  true.  From  Louis 
XIV.  France  descended  to  Louis  XV.,  from  Louis  XV. 
to  Voltaire,  from  Voltaire  to  Robespierre  and  Marat ; 
that  is  to  say,  from  pride  to  corruption,  from  corrup- 
tion to  impiety,  and  from  both  the  one  and  the  other 
to  a  hatred  of  God  and  man  which  was  to  bring  about 
her  universal  punishment. 

Ah,  this  was  only  the  beginning  of  our  sorrows  !  From 
1789  let  us  go  to  1889.  There  we  find  a  new  century, 
one  scarcely  less  sad  than  its  predecessor  ;  one  in  which 
minds  are  darkened  and  hearts  chilled  ;  one  in  which 
nothing  is  lasting  ;  one  whose  every  cycle  of  fifteen 
years  witnessed  a  storm  that  carried  away  a  throne  ; 
one  in  which  man  lives  amidst  constantly  recurring 
political  convulsions,  in  distrust  of  the  present,  in  un- 
certainty of  the  future. 

It  was  for  such  times  that  had  been  providentially 
prepared,  and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  such  catastrophes, 
that  we  see  making  its  way,  painfully  but  surely,  devo- 
tion to  that  Heart  which  is  meek  and  humble,  which 
suited  so  well  the  age  of  Louis  XIV.;  which  is  pure,  for 
it  was  of  purity  that  Louis  XV.'s  reign  had  so  much 
need  ;  which  was  consumed  by  love  and  devotedness, 
qualities  that  would  not  have  proved  prejudicial  to  the 
age  of  such  as  Robespierre  ;  which  raises  sad  hearts 
and  comforts  crushed  souls  ;  which  suits  our  own  times 
and  ail  times. 


274  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MARGARET  MARY'S  MISSION  ENDED— SHE  IS  CON- 
SUMED  IN  THE  FLAMES  OF  DIVINE  LOVE— HER  HOLY 
DEATH. 

1690. 

"  Sicut  virgula  furai  ex  aromatibus  thuris." 

"As  a  pillar  of  smoke  of  aromatical  spices." — Cant.  iii.  6. 

^?  ARGARET  MARY  had  finished  her  mission.  It 
^Ij^L  now  remained  for  her  only  to  die  ;  or  rather, 
she  must  die  that  her  mission  may  be  accom- 
plished. Those  admirable  revelations  of  God,  of  which 
we  know  so  much  to-day,  were  known  in  the  time  of 
Margaret  Mary  to  only  a  few,  and  only  three  or  four 
knew  them  in  detail.  Many  had  only  a  vague  notion 
of  them,  and,  through  delicacy  and  respect  for  Margaret 
Mary,  no  one  dared  speak  of  them.  "  I  must  die,"  said 
she,  "for  I  am  an  obstacle  to  this  sweet  devotion."1 
Again:  "  I  shall  assuredly  die  this  year,  in  order  not  to 
prevent  the  great  fruits  that  my  Divine  Saviour  expects 
to  reap  from  a  book  of  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of 
Jesus"2 — words  that  very  much  surprised  Father  Croi- 
set,  who  was  working  at  this  book,  but  who  had  not  yet 
spoken  of  it  to  any  one. 

When  Margaret  Mary  finished  this  first  work,  she 
ended  a  second,  one  more  personal  but  not  less  admir- 
able :  she  had  finished  moulding  her  soul  to  the  image 
of  the  Sacred  Heart.  In  the  fire  of  suffering  and  of 
voluntary  sacrifice,  what  was  human  and  imperfect  in 
her  had  been  gradually  consumed;  all  that  was  left 
was  purely  celestial.  As  in  all  great  fires,  when  every- 
thing has  been  devoured,  the  flames  sink  and  gradually 

1  Letter  XCIX.  2Contemp.,  p.  294. 


Margaret  Marys  Mission  Ended,        275 

die  out  for  want  of  fuel ;  thus  the  sufferings,  physical 
and  mental,  that  for  so  many  years  had  overwhelmed 
the  saint  one  by  one  disappeared.  Hence  she  con- 
cluded that  she  was  soon  to  die.  "  I  shall  certainly  die 
this  year,"  she  exclaimed,  "  since  I  have  nothing  more 
to  suffer."  * 

The  sacrifice  was,  in  reality,  nearing  its  consummation. 
To  the  criticisms,  the  discussions,  of  which  she  had 
been  the  object,  succeeded  a  sort  of  deep  and  discreet 
enthusiasm.  Not  only  were  the  Sisters  daily  witnesses 
of  her  virtues  ;  not  only  the  little  boarders,  who  clipped 
relics  from  her  habit  ;  but  priests  and  religious  began 
to  make  journeys  to  Paray,  to  have  the  happiness  of 
conversing  with  her.  On  leaving  the  parlor  they  were 
often  heard  to  say  :  "  We  came  to  see  the  saint !" 
There  was  no  one,  not  even  the  laborers  in  the  convent, 
that  did  not  watch  for  her  at  the  recreation  hour,  and 
say  to  one  another  :  "  Let  us  try  to  see  the  saint  of  the 
house."2  "The  women  who  did  the  washing  never 
called  her  anything  else."  3  On  feast-days  when  the 
grate  was  open,  one  could  not  prevent  pious  souls  from 
crowding  against  the  bars  in  order  "  to  catch  a  glimpse 
of  the  saint."  The  aureola  of  holiness  was  definitively 
placed  upon  her  brow  ;  and  all  contemplated  with  re- 
spectful admiration  the  victim  approaching  the  consum- 
mation of  her  sacrifice  on  the  altar. 

Among  the  many  virtues  that  excited  admiration  at 
that  last  hour,  what  was  most  astonishing  was  her  love 
for  the  hidden  life,  carried  almost  to  passion.  Ordi- 
narily, when  God  calls  a  soul  to  a  public  mission,  He 
puts  into  it  a  sort  of  chivalric  enthusiasm,  a  holy  bold- 
ness that  renders  it  capable  of  any  undertaking.  Wit- 
ness the  pure  and  ardent  St.  Catharine  of  Siena,  who, 
in  spite  of  the  ruling  powers,  led  the  Pope  back  to 
Rome  after  an  exile  of  seventy  years.     But  in  Margaret 

1  Contemp.,  p.  294.  2  Process  of  1715,  p.  69. 

3  Vie  et  ceuvres,  torn.  i.  p.  201. 


276  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Mary  we  see  nothing  of  the  kind.  From  her  cradle  to 
her  tomb,  she  thought  but  of  hiding  herself  ;  she  never 
found  a  solitude  sufficiently  retired.  The  more  brilliant 
became  her  graces,  the  more  her  craving  after  forget- 
fulness,  contempt,  and  humiliation  increased.  Her 
greatest  desire,  a  desire  that  on  her  deathbed  amounted 
to  a  torment,  was  to  destroy  all  that  she  had  ever 
written,  thus  to  prevent  any  word  from  ever  being 
spoken  of  her.  "  It  would  be  very  sweet  to  me,  my 
dear  Mother,  if  you  would  assure  me,  as  your  charity 
has  promised,  that  you  will  burn  everything  without 
exception  ;  that  nothing  may  ever  be  seen  or  known  ; 
for  my  desire  to  remain  buried  in  contempt  and  forget- 
fulness  after  death  is  not  less  than  that  which  I  have 
had  during  life."  *  "  How  grateful  I  should  be  to  you, 
my  good  Mother,  if  you  would  do  me  the  favor  of  burn- 
ing all  the  writings  that  you  have  belonging  to  me."8 
"  I  pray  and  implore  you  to  burn  all  my  writings,  for  I 
do  not  wish  that  there  should  survive  so  wicked  a  sin- 
ner anything  that  could  preserve  her  remembrance 
after  death.  I  wish  to  be  buried,  annihilated  in 
eternal  oblivion."  3 

Her  thirst  for  contempt  and  humiliation  increased 
with  her  reputation.  She  wished  to  write  no  more 
letters,  to  appear  no  more  in  the  parlor.  "  Tell  me 
what  I  must  do,  for  the  number  of  letters  written  to  me 
makes  me  suffer  a  most  painful  species  of  martyrdom, 
seeing  that,  though  not  wishing  it,  I  have  so  deceived 
people.  I  think  nothing  can  better  undeceive  them  than 
my  silence.  I  feel  so  strongly  attracted  to  that  course 
that,  without  extreme  violence,  I  can  no  longer  resist, 
whether  for  the  parlor  or  for  letters.  If  obedience  did 
not  constrain  me,  I  should  neither  go  to  the  one  nor  re- 
ply to  the  other.  The  only  consolation  that  I  have  in 
this  is  that  it  is  to  me  a  cross,  and  the  cross  is  good  at 
1  Letter  IX.  2  Letter  X.  s  Letter  XXXII. 


Margaret  Marys  Mission  Ended.        277 

all  times  and  in  all  places."  1  "  Alas  !  if  you  knew  how 
criminal  my  life  is,  and  how  little  conformed  to  my 
words,  you  would  see  that  like  a  miserable  sinner  who, 
without  willing  it,  has  deceived  others,  it  is  most  just 
for  me  to  desire  to  be  buried  in  eternal  contempt  and 
oblivion."  2 

She  went  to  the  parlor  only  when  constrained  by 
obedience,  and  whilst  there  kept  herself  so  recollected, 
so  abyssed  in  God,  and  so  humble,  that  all  gazed  at  her 
in  admiration.  "The  great  difficulty  I  have  to  speak," 
she  said,  "  would  prevent  my  ever  doing  so  if  obedience 
did  not  require  it.  It  seems  to  me  that,  seeing  myself 
so  very  wicked,  contemptible,  and  despicable,  I  commit 
a  great  crime  in  speaking  of  myself.  I  am  often  aston- 
ished that  the  earth  does  not  open  under  my  feet 
and  swallow  me,  on  account  of  my  great  sins.  Ask,  I 
conjure  you,  the  Sacred  Heart  to  grant  me  the  grace  to 
die  with  it  oh  the  cross,  poor,  unknown,  despised,  for 
gotten  by  all  creatures,  overwhelmed  by  all  sorts  of  suf- 
ferings ;  but  all  according  to  His  choice,  His  desire,  not 
mine."  3 

The  last  words  show  us  a  second  characteristic  of 
Margaret  Mary's  inclinations.  We  do  not  think  that 
any  creature  has  ever  loved  suffering  more,  nor  plunged 
into  it  with  greater  enthusiasm.  "  To  tell  you  in  a  word 
of  the  delights  with  which  His  goodness  has,  up  to  the 
present,  favored  me,  I  cannot  better  express  it  than  by 
saying  that  in  mind  and  in  body  I  am  on  the  cross.  I 
cannot  complain  of  it,  nor  do  I  desire  any  other  consola- 
tion than  that  of  never  having  any  in  the  world,  and  of 
living  entirely  hidden  in  Jesus  Christ  crucified,  unknown 
in  my  sufferings.  I  wish  no  creature  to  have  compassion 
on  me,  none  to  remember  me,  excepting  to  increase  my 
torment."  4 

"  I  consider  the  hours  that  I  have  spent  without  suffer- 

1  Letter  LXXX.  2  Letter  XCVI 

3  Letter  LXXXV.  4  Letter  I. 


278   Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

ing  as  lost.  Indeed,  I  assure  you,  my  good  Mother,  that 
I  do  not  wish  to  live  longer  unless  I  may  have  the  hap- 
piness to  suffer."  ' 

The  more  Margaret's  pain  increased,  the  more  her 
soul  thrilled  with  joy.  "As  to  myself,  my  dear  Mother, 
alas!  what  can  I  say, excepting  that  it  pleases  the  Lord 
to  keep  me  in  a  state  of  continual  suffering,  my  strength 
so  exhausted  that  it  is  with  extreme  difficulty  I  carry 
my  miserable  body  of  sin.  When  I  behold  my  sufferings, 
it  seems  to  me  that  I  feel  the  same  joy  that  the  most 
avaricious  and  ambitious  do  in  seeing  their  treasures 
multiply."2 

Every  instant  we  meet  similar  utterances:  "  I  know  of 
nothing  that  so  sweetens  the  prolongation  of  life  as  con- 
stant suffering  in  loving.  Let  us  then  suffer  lovingly 
and  uncomplainingly,  esteeming  as  lost  the  moments 
passed  without  suffering."  3  "  Who  can  hinder  us  from 
being  saints,  since  we  have  a  heart  to  love  and  a  body  to 
suffer  ?"  4  "  Although  I  suffer  as  a  criminal,  it  is  that, 
however,  which  makes  the  prolongation  of  life  endura- 
ble ;  for  in  it  there  can  be  found  no  pleasure,  excepting 
that  of  loving  God  and  suffering  in  His  love."  6  We 
may  page  through  her  letters,  peruse  her  Memoire,  but 
in  each  we  shall  see  that  never  was  deeper  passion  ex- 
pressed in  cries  more  touching,  never  was  it  revealed  in 
darts  more  penetrating.  When  we  recall  these  words 
of  Mother  Greyfie:  "  The  scourge  had  to  be  snatched 
from  her  hand  ;  for  had  we  let  her,  she  would  have  dis- 
ciplined herself  to  blood," — one  involuntarily  pauses  in 
presence  of  one  of  the  greatest  examples  of  love  of  the 
Cross  and  passion  for  suffering  that  hagiology  presents 
to  the  admiration  of  Christians. 

There  is  no  need  to  say  whence  arose  in  her  virtues  so 
elevated  above  nature.  They  came  from  the  only  source 
that  can  produce  them  :  a  love  of  God  of  which  she 

1  Letter  XI.  2  Letter  XXXIX.  3  Letter  LXXXVI. 

4  Letter  XCII.  5  Letter  VIII. 


Margaret  Mary's  Mission  Ended.        279 

herself  was  not  able  to  note  the  beginning  ;  which  was 
awakened  in  her  crib  ;  and  which,  carefully  cultivated, 
increased  with  age,  arrived  at  its  culminating  point,  and 
there  consumed  her  life.  There  were,  she  said,  three 
tyrants  installed  in  her  heart,  which  left  her  no  longer 
mistress  of  any  movement  :  the  first  was  love  of  con- 
tempt ;  the  second,  love  of  suffering ;  the  third,  and 
the  most  insatiable  of  all,  love  of  Jesus  Christ.  u  God 
has  put  into  my  soul  three  persecutors  that  cruelly  tor- 
ment me  :  the  first,  which  produces  the  other  two,  is  so 
great  a  desire  of  loving  Him  that  it  seems  to  me  that 
whatever  I  see  ought  to  be  changed  into  flames  of  love."  * 
Her  great  motto  was  :  "  Love,  suffer  through  love,  and 
be  silent.  This  is  the  secret  of  the  lovers  of  the  Be- 
loved." 2 

Writing  to  a  friend  a  short  time  before  her  death, 
"  Love,"  she  said,  "  and  do  what  you  please,  for  he  that 
has  love  has  all.  Do  all  through  love,  in  love,  and  for 
love  ;  for  it  is  love  that  gives  value  to  everything.  Love 
wishes  not  a  divided  heart.  It  calls  for  all  or  none. 
Give,  then,  love  for  love,  and  never  forget  Him  whom 
love  has  put  to  death  for  you.  You  will  love  Him  only 
inasmuch  as  you  know  how  to  suffer  in  silence  and  to 
prefer  Him  to  creatures."  3 

Under  the  empire  of  these  three  tyrants,  where  could 
there  be  room  for  the  most  imperceptible  regard  for 
creatures  ?  Although  Margaret  Mary  had  a  very  tender 
heart,  its  purity  was  charming.  Her  chastity  was  that 
of  an  angel.  She  herself  has  acknowledged  that,  except 
the  day  on  which  she  was  sent  to  take  the  place  of 
Louis  XIV.  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  she  never 
had  even  the  shadow  of  a  temptation.  She  had  pre- 
served her  baptismal  innocence.  There  was  in  her  coun- 
tenance something  angelic,  something  ineffably  pure  ; 
though,  at  the  same  time,  her  eyes  were  so  clear  and  her 
gaze  so  penetrating  that  one  might  have  been  embar- 
1  Letter  XII.  2  Letter  LXXXIV.  3  Letter  LIIL 


280  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

rassed  under  her  holy  glance,  had  it  not  been  tempered 
by  extreme  sweetness  and  modesty.  She  possessed  the 
secret  of  reading  hearts.  By  a  word,  a  glance,  a  sweet 
and  delicate  allusion,  she  frequently  revealed  to  her 
novices  that  she  knew  their  interior  dispositions.  One 
look,  for  example,  sufficed  to  show  her  that  one  of  the 
Misses  de  Vichy-Chamron  was  not,  like  her  sister,  intend- 
ed for  the  Visitation  ;  and  the  importunity  of  her  family, 
no  more  than  the  persecution  her  refusal  to  receive  her 
excited,  could  make  Margaret  Mary  yield.  To  another 
who  ardently  desired  to  enter  the  Visitation  she  said 
that  God  did  not  call  her  there;  that  He  wished  her  to 
go  to  the  Ursulines,  where  she  would  do  great  good. 
This  happened,  indeed,  to  the  surprise  of  the  whole 
Community.  On  another  occasion  she  was  in  the  par- 
lor with  a  cousin,  very  young  and  gay,  recently  received 
among  the  Dominicans.  Another  relative  present 
wished  to  check  the  young  monk's  gayety.  "  Let  him 
laugh,"  said  Margaret  Mary;  "  these  are  his  last  joys,  for 
he  has  not  much  longer  to  live."  The  young  man  died 
suddenly  a  few  days  after. 

Margaret's  vision  extended  beyond  the  most  distant 
horizon.  "  Do  you  think,  then,"  said  she,  smiling,  to  a 
lady  who  asked  of  her  news  of  her  deceased  relatives, 
"  that  I  know  what  passes  in  purgatory  ?"  But  the  facts 
disabused  her  words,  and  no  one  would  have  thought  of 
putting  such  a  question  to  her,  had  not  some  exact  and 
striking  revelations  on  several  occasions  declared  her 
gift  of  prophecy. 

To  it  she  joined  the  gift  of  miracles.  It  happened 
one  day  that  a  good  domestic  Sister,  whilst  splitting 
wood,  wounded  herself  with  the  axe.  Fearing  that  this 
accident  might  cause  her  to  be  sent  away,  she  tried  at 
first  to  conceal  it.  But  the  wound  increased,  and,  like 
the  poor  woman  of  the  Gospel,  she  said  to  herself  :  If 
I  shall  touch  only  her  gar7?ient,  I  shall  be  healed.1       Follow- 

1  St.  Matt.  ix.  2:. 


Margaret  Marys  Mission  Ended.        281 

ing  out  her  good  thought,  she  touched  her  wounded 
limb  to  the  hem  of  Margaret's  garment,  and  she  was 
almost  overcome  with  joy  on  perceiving  the  next  morn- 
ing no  trace  of  her  wound. 

Thus  did  Margaret  rise  day  by  day  to  the  summit  of 
sanctity.  After  having  run  through  the  elementary  de- 
grees so  rapidly,  she  had  arrived  at  that  high  pinnacle 
upon  which  the  heart  of  man  unites  itself  to  the  Heart  of 
God,  and  has  no  longer  any  other  than  divine  thoughts, 
desires,  and  aspirations.  But  she  had  now  gone  a  step 
farther.  She  was  elevated  to  that  sublime  state  in 
which  the  weakness  of  man,  as  says  the  Holy  Scripture, 
enters  into  the  power  of  God,  reigns  like  Him,  sees  into 
the  future,  penetrates  the  secrets  of  souls,  and  sovereign- 
ly commands  the  elements. 

It  must  be  added  that,  "although  Margaret  Mary 
shone  brilliantly  in  all  the  virtues,  yet  her  sanctity  en- 
tirely resolved  itself  into  that  love  with  which  she  so 
ardently  burned  for  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  that  amaz- 
ing zeal  which  led  her  to  draw  all  hearts  to  render  Him 
love  for  love  " x  We  can  say  that  this  devotion  was  the 
summary  as  well  as  the  living  and  vivifying  source  of 
all  her  virtues. 

It  was  for  the  Sacred  Heart  that  God  had  created 
her,  and  it  was  by  the  Sacred  Heart  that  He  had  con- 
ducted her  to  the  summit  of  perfection.  Thence  came 
her  faith,  her  humility,  her  virginal  modesty,  her  an- 
gelic purity  ;  and  if,  as  a  little  one  in  the  bosom  of  her 
family,  in  the  streets  of  the  village  of  Verosvres,  people 
said,  on  seeing  her  pass,  "  She  is  an  angel,"  it  was 
because,  though  unknown  to  her,  the  Sacred  Heart  had 
already  darted  upon  her  a  first  ray  of  love.  Thence, 
too,  came  her  love  for  God  and  man,  her  apostolic 
spirit,  her  zeal,  her  spirit  of  prayer,  and  her  long  con- 
templations from  which  she  drew  her  grand,  prophetic 
lights  on  the  Church,  on  consciences,  and  on  the  most 
1  Decret  de  Beatification. 


282  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

hidden  events.  Many  of  those  lights  had  some  connec- 
tion with  the  mission  she  had  received.  Thence  also 
her  frightful  sufferings,  the  trials  that  assailed  her,  the 
doubts,  the  humiliations  that  God  permitted,  in  order 
that  the  heart  of  the  humble  virgin  might  be  broken 
and  wounded  like  that  of  her  celestial  Spouse.  Thence, 
in  fine,  came  in  the  last  years  of  her  life  that  aureola  of 
sanctity  which  attracted  the  eyes  of  all.  In  proportion 
as  she  ascended  above  the  horizon,  the  Sacred  Heart 
darted  its  rays  upon  her.  He  who  was  so  soon  going  to 
inundate  her  with  light  allowed  its  reflection  to  shine 
upon  her  forehead. 

Heaven  itself  delighted  to  make  it  seen.  One  day,  a 
good  Sister,  hearing  holiness  spoken  of  in  the  Com- 
munity, said  to  herself:  u  Oh,  how  I  should  love  to  see  a 
saint!"  Instantly  she  heard  a  voice  in  the  depths  of 
her  heart:  "Look  at  Sister  Margaret  Mary!"  She 
raised  her  eyes  to  Margaret's  face  glowing  with  celestial 
light  from  her  recollection  and  union  with  God. 

What  Heaven  thus  showed  to  an  humble  religious 
was  not  concealed  from  others.  The  last  mists  were 
slowly  clearing  away,  and  God's  glory  was  appearing 
on  the  countenance  of  His  servant.  This  could  not 
last.  It  was  a  new  martyrdom,  more  cruel  than  all 
others,  and  absolutely  above  her  strength.  She  must 
of  necessity  die.  It  was  necessary  for  her,  and  it  was 
needful  for  the  exaltation  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  whose 
grand  revelations  could  no  longer  remain  unknown. 

There  is  no  doubt  that,  from  the  beginning  of  1690, 
Sister  Margaret  Mary  had  of  her  approaching  death  the 
most  vivid  light.  She  spoke  of  it  incessantly.  Vainly 
did  the  Superioress,  the  Sisters,  the  physician  smile  on 
hearing  her  proclaim  her  end  as  so  near.  She  sweetly 
and  humbly  maintained  that  it  would  be  "  this  year." 
She  told  them  how  it  would  take  place,  and  at  a  time 
in  which  the  Community  was  least  expecting  it.  She 
even  named  the  two  Sisters  in  whose  arms  she  was  to 


Margaret  Marys  Mission  Ended,        283 

breathe  her  last  sigh.  "  Dear  Sister,"  said  she  to  young 
Sister  Rosalie  Verchere,  who  had  never  assisted  at  a 
deathbed,  and  who  very  likely  would  be  terrified  at  the 
sight,  "you  greatly  fear  witnessing  a  death.  Ah!  very 
well,  depend  upon  it,  I  shall  die  in  your  arms  and  those 
of  Sister  Peronne-Rosalie  de  Farges."  x 

July  22d,  a  little  less  than  three  months  before  her 
death,  she  heard  more  distinctly  than  ever  the  call  of 
the  Spouse.  Although  in  good  health,  and  only  forty- 
three  years  old,  she  solicited  with  so  much  importunity 
the  favor  of  making  a  forty  days'  retreat  to  prepare  her- 
self for  death,  that  her  Superioress  could  not  refuse  her. 
She  committed  to  paper  some  of  the  thoughts  that  then 
occupied  her,  and  which  permit  us  to  contemplate  for 
the  last  time  the  perfect  beauty  of  her  great  soul. 

"  On  the  first  day  of  my  retreat  my  chief  care  was  to 
think  whence  could  come  to  me  this  great  longing  for 
death,  since  it  is  not  usual  for  criminals,  such  as  J  am 
before  God,  to  be  so  easy  about  appearing  before  their 
judge,  and  a  judge  the  sanctity  of  whose  justice  pene- 
trates even  to  the  marrow  of  the  bones.  How,  then 
my  soul,  canst  thou  feel  so  great  joy  at  its  approach  ? 
Thou  thinkest  only  of  ending  thy  exile,  and  thou  art 
enraptured  at  the  idea  of  soon  going  forth  from  thy 
prison.  But,  alas!  take  care  that  temporal  joy,  which 
perhaps  proceeds  only  from  the  blindness  of  ignorance, 
plunge  thee  not  into  eternal  sadness,  and  that  from  this 
mortal  and  perishable  prison  thou  fallest  not  into  those 
eternal  dungeons  where  there  will  be  no  more  room  to 
hope.  Let  us,  then,  O  my  soul,  leave  this  joy  and  these 
desires  to  die  to  holy  and  fervent  souls  for  whom  great 
rewards  are  prepared.  For  us  whose  works  leave  us 
nothing  but  chastisements  to  hope  for,  if  God  is  not 
more  good  in  our  regard  than  just,  let  us  think  what 
will  be  our  fate.  Canst  thou,  my  soul,  endure  for  all 
eternity  the  absence  of  Him  whose  presence  fills  thee 
1  Ann6e  Sainte,  vol.  ix.  p.  214. 


284  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

with  desires  so  ardent,  and  whose  absence  causes  thee 
pains  so  cruel  ? 

"  My  God,  how  difficult  it  is  for  me  to  render  this 
account!  I  feel  it  impossible  to  nerve  myself  up  to  it, 
and,  in  my  impotence,  I  know  not  to  whom  to  address 
myself  unless  to  my  Adorable  Master.  I  have  remitted 
to  Him  all  the  points  on  which  I  shall  be  judged, 
namely,  my  Rules,  Constitutions,  and  Directory.  It  is 
on  them  I  shall  be  justified  or  condemned.  After  con- 
fiding to  Him  all  my  interests,  I  felt  admirable  peace 
under  His  feet,  where  He  held  me  for  a  long  time 
abyssed,  as  it  were,  in  my  own  nothingness,  and  there 
expecting  that  He  would  judge  me,  a  miserable 
criminal." 

Later  on,  having  measured  "  the  immensity  of  her 
malice,"  she  adds:  "  I  am  insolvent.  Thou  seest  it  well, 
my  Divine  Master.  Put  me  in  prison.  I  consent, 
provided  it  be  in  Thy  Sacred  Heart.  There  keep  me 
fast  captive,  bound  by  the  chains  of  Thy  love,  until  I 
shall  have  paid  Thee  all  that  I  owe  Thee;  and  as  I  shall 
never  be  able  to  do  that,  I  shall  never  come  forth  from 
that  prison." 

We  ask  the  most  severe  judges,  could  there  be  words 
more  beautiful  than  these  ? 

In  this  elevation  of  thought,  this  humility  so  true, 
this  depth  of  sentiment,  this  peace  and  calm  already 
heavenly,  do  they  not  recognize  a  great  soul  soaring  to 
the  loftiest  heights?  And  when,  overwhelmed  with  the 
remembrance  of  her  sins,  the  blessed  Sister  asks,  on  the 
verge  of  the  tomb,  to  be  hidden  in  the  Heart  of  Jesus, 
may  we  not  find  in  that  an  indirect,  though  very  high, 
proof  of  the  perfect  sincerity  of  her  rare  mind  and 
noble  heart  ? 

In  these  sentiments  Margaret  Mary  awaited  death. 
Autumn  came,  the  season  in  which  the  religious  of  the 
Visitation  make  their  annual  retreat.  Now  the  eve  of 
the  day  on  which  she  was  to  begin  hers,  for  that  of  the 


Her  Holy  Death.  285 

month  of  July  did  not  dispense  her  from  the  one  pre- 
scribed by  the  Rule,  she  was  taken  with  a  slight  increase 
of  fever.  A  Sister  having  asked  her  whether  she  could 
enter  her  retreat,  she  replied:  "Yes,  but  it  will  be  into 
the  great  retreat."  The  physician,  Dr.  Billiet,  was  called. 
He  venerated  her  as  a  saint,  and  used  to  say  that  her 
maladies  proceeded  from  divine  love.  He  saw  nothing 
serious  in  her  indisposition,  and  declared  she  would  not 
die  of  it.  Margaret  Mary,  on  the  contrary,  looking  at 
him  smilingly,  said:  "  After  all,  it  is  less  culpable  for  a 
secular  than  for  a  religious  to  tell  a  lie." 

After  a  short  interval  she  asked  for  little  Sister  Marie- 
Nicole  de  la  Faige  des  Claines,  whom  she  called  her  St. 
Louis  de  Gonzaga,  wishing,  as  she  said,  to  have  her  by 
her  when  she  died.  "  Come  see  me,  my  dear  Sister," 
she  said,  as  soon  as  she  perceived  her,  "  for  I  shall  die 
of  this  illness.  We  shall  not  have  a  long  time  to  be 
together."1 

It  was  the  eve  of  her  death,  though  none  suspected 
it.  The  physician  reassured  the  Sisters.  The  counte- 
nance of  the  invalid  confirmed  his  words  and  dis- 
pelled every  trace  of  apprehension.  However,  toward 
evening  little  Sister  des  Claines,  who  never  left  her, 
observed  that  she  suffered  much,  though  from  interior 
pains,  the  nature  and  cause  of  which  it  was  difficult 
to  divine.  "  You  suffer,"  said  she  to  her.  "  Oh,  not  so 
much,"  the  saint  earnestly  replied,  and  relapsed  into 
silence.  A  little  later,  toward  the  beginning  of  the  night, 
she  called  the  little  Sister,  and  spoke  to  her  of  the  ardent 
desire  that  consumed  her  of  seeing  God  in  heaven;  add- 
ing that  she  would  nevertheless  prefer  to  remain  on 
earth  till  the  last  judgment  if  such  were  His  good 
pleasure. 

The  next  day,  October  16th,  eve  of  her  death,  she 
implored  from  early  morning  to  have  holy  Viaticum 
given  her.  As  she  was  positively  refused,  her  condition 
Annee  Sainte,  vol.  ix.  p.  729. 


286  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

inspiring  no  fears,  she  asked  at  leasL  to  be  allowed  to 
communicate,  since  she  was  still  fasting.  Her  impor- 
tunity was  at  last  victorious.  When  she  saw  her  Well- 
beloved  entering,  she  opened  wide  her  arms,  and,  with 
a  vehemence  that  the  witnesses  declared  themselves 
incapable  of  describing,  thanked  Him  for  coming  to  her. 
This  was  the  last  time  she  received  her  God  on  earth. 
She  knew  that  it  was  to  be  so,  and  after  the  ceremony 
she  told  little  Sister  des  Claines  that  she  had  com- 
municated as  Viaticum,  because  the  end  was  near. 

All  who  approached  her  on  this  last  day  admired  the 
extraordinary  joy  depicted  on  her  face.  She  was  in  con- 
tinual outbursts:  "Ah!  what  happiness  to  love  God! 
Let  us  love  Him,  let  us  love  Him!  But  let  it  be  per- 
fectly!" For  one  instant  only  the  thought  of  divine  jus- 
tice crossed  her  mind.  She  trembled,  then  humbly  and 
ardently  kissed  her  crucifix.  "  Mercy,  my  God!  Mercy!" 
she  exclaimed.  But  this  trouble  was  only  passing.  The 
next  moment  she  plunged  into  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  and 
on  her  brow  appeared  a  radiant  serenity  that  was  never 
more  to  leave  it. 

Once,  after  having  said  with  great  fervor:  "What  do 
I  desire  in  heaven,  and  what  can  I  wish  on  earth,  except 
Thee  alone,  O  my  God!"  she  called  her  little  infirma- 
rian  to  her,  and  inquired:  "  Shall  I  last  much  longer?" 
The  latter  answered  that  it  was  the  doctor's  opinion  she 
would  not  die.  Then  Margaret  Mary  cried  out:  "Ah, 
Lord!  when  wilt  Thou  recall  me  from  this  place  of 
exile  ?"  and  asked  Marie-Nicole  to  recite  the  Litanies  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  and  those  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin. After  that  she  desired  her  assistants  to  invoke  St. 
Joseph,  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  and  her  guardian  angel  to 
come  to  her  aid;  and  then  relapsed  into  a  silence  of  sev- 
eral hours. 

In  the  evening  a  last  thought  of  humility,  of  love  for 
the  hidden  life,  began  to  preoccupy  her.  She  called  Sis- 
ter de  Farges,  and  asked  her  to  burn  all  that  remained  of 


Her  Holy  Death.  287 

her  writings,  and  particularly  the  Memoire  drawn  up  by 
order  of  Father  Rollin.  The  Sister,  seeing  the  peril, 
gently  insinuated  that  it  would  be  more  perfect  to  remit 
herself  into  the  hands  of  Superiors  and  abandon  every- 
thing to  holy  obedience.  At  these  words  the  patient 
ceased  to  insist.  As  Sister  de  Farges  showed  distress 
at  seeing  Margaret  Mary  so  convinced  of  her  approach- 
ing death,  the  saint  repeated  to  her  what  she  had  sev- 
eral times  said,  namely,  that  her  death  was  necessary  for 
the  glory  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus. 

Thus  passed  the  day  and  the  night  of  October  16th. 
On  the  morning  of  the  17th,  whose  eve  she  was  not  to  see, 
being  attacked  by  some  slight  fainting  spells,  she  asked 
for  holy  Viaticum.  The  physician  was  called  in  haste. 
He  again  declared  that  there  was  nothing  urgent  in  the 
case,  and  that  she  would  not  die.  "  You  will  see!"  said 
the  saint.  When  he  left,  she  said  to  Sister  de  Farges, 
in  allusion  to  the  holy  Viaticum  just  refused  her:  "  Hap- 
pily, I  foresaw  that.  I  doubted  as  to  whether  they  would 
believe  me  so  ill,  and  so  I  communicated  yesterday  for 
this  intention."  This  last  decision  of  the  physician 
having  reassured  the  Community,  the  Sisters  dispersed 
to  their  various  duties.  Sister  de  Farges  alone  remained 
with  Margaret  Mary,  who  conversed  with  her  upon  the 
ineffable  excess  of  God's  love.  Her  words  were  few  but 
inflamed.  Towards  seven  in  the  evening,  a  slight  con- 
vulsion having  passed  over  the  invalid,  Sister  des  Claines 
ran  to  call  the  Superioress.  At  this  moment  Sister  de 
Farges  re-entered,  and,  thinking  it  only  a  passing  crisis, 
tried  to  stop  her.  "  Let  her  go,"  said  Margaret  Mary, 
"it  is  time." 

The  Superioress  came,  and  wished  to  send  for  the 
doctor.  "Mother,"  said  Margaret  Mary,  "  I  no  longer 
need  any  one  but  God  alone,  and  to  be  buried  in  the 
Heart  of  Jesus." 

In  an  instant  all  the  Sisters,  notified  that  she  was  in 
her  last  agony,  hurried  in  and  prostrated  in  tears  at  the 


2&&  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

foot  of  her  bed.  Margaret  Mary  collected  her  remain- 
ing strength  to  conjure  them  to  love  God,  but  without 
division,  without  reserve,  and  then  warned  them  that 
it  was  time  to  give  her  Extreme  Unction. 

The  priest  entered  and  began  the  ceremony,  the  saint 
being  recollected  and  absorbed  in  prayer.  Suddenly 
she  raised  herself,  to  present  her  members  for  the  last 
unction.  At  this  moment  two  Sisters,  impelled  solely 
by  their  affection  for  her,  threw  themselves  forward  to 
support  her  in  their  arms.  These  two  Sisters  who  rose 
so  spontaneously  were,  to  the  right,  Sister  Peronne-Rosa- 
lie  Verchere  and,  to  the  left,  Sister  de  Farges — the  same 
to  whom  the  saint  had  foretold  that  she  would  die  in 
their  arms.  They  had  lost  sight  of  her  words  at  the 
moment.  They  remembered  the  prediction  only  after- 
ward, and  affirmed  the  incident  under  oath.  At  the 
anointing  of  the  Fourth  Sense,  Margaret  Mary  sweetly 
expired  in  their  arms,  pronouncing  the  Holy  Name  of 
Jesus,  October  17,  1690,  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing. She  was  aged  forty-three  years  two  months  and 
four  days. 

When  the  saint,  consumed  by  seraphic  ardor,  was 
going  to  enjoy  the  sweet  embraces  of  the  Heart  of 
Jesus,1  an  unknown  beauty  spread  over  her  face;  her 
features,  so  delicate  and  so  pure,  assumed  a  heavenly 
expression.  The  two  young  Sisters  that  supported  her 
in  their  arms  received  such  an  electric  current  of  divine 
love  that  one  of  them,  Sister  Verchere,  scarcely  twenty- 
four  years  old,  made  a  vow  the  next  day  to  do  always 
what  was  most  perfect ;  the  other,  Sister  de  Farges, 
vowed  herself  to  that  extraordinary  life  of  sanctity  which 
surnamed  her  a  second  Margaret  Mary.  The  physician 
was  kneeling  at  the  foot  of  the  bed.  On  recovering 
from  his  astonishment,  he  said  that  he  was  not  surprised 
that  Margaret  Mary,  having  lived  by  love,  had  died  of 
love.  But  one  cry  was  heard  throughout  the  house: 
1  Decret  de  Beatification. 


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Her  Holy  Death,  289 

"The  saint  is  dead!"  And  that  cry  having  crossed  the 
grate,  in  an  instant  the  whole  town  was  in  the  parlors 
asking  to  see  her  for  the  last  time.  When  taken  to  the 
choir,  two  entire  days  were  spent  in  touching  her  vir- 
ginal remains  with  chaplets,  medals,  and  crucifixes.  The 
witnesses  at  the  process  of  canonization  knew  not  how 
to  describe  the  eagerness  of  the  crowd,  the  enthusiastic 
veneration,  the  touching  recollection,  and  the  sweet 
odor  of  sanctity  exhaled  from  the  virginal  remains. 
The  sacrifice  was  ended;  but  the  incense  was  still  smok- 
ing and  embalming  the  church. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  after  her  death, 
a  number  of  the  clergy  met  for  the  funeral  rites.  They 
buried  the  illustrious  virgin  under  one  of  the  choir 
flags,  near  the  spot  upon  which  she  was  kneeling  when 
the  Lord  appeared  to  her.  The  first  part  of  the  grand 
drama  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  the  private  part,  was  ended*, 
the  second  was  about  to  begin. 


2  9°  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

DEVOTION  TO  THE   HEART  OF  JESUS   BEGINS   IN   THE 
WORLD— ANGER  OF  SOME,  ENTHUSIASM  OF  OTHERS. 

*'  Quare  fremuerunt  gentes,  et  populi  meditati  sunt  inania  7" 
"  Why  have  the  Gentiles  raged,  and  the  people  devised  vain  things  ¥' 
—Psalm  ii.  I. 
"  Venient,  et  adorabunt." 
' '  They  shall  come  and  adore/' — Psalm  ixxxv.  a. 

lHE  saint  is  dead!  There  is  no  longer  any  oDstacle 
to  the  glory  of  the  Heart  of  tesusT  The  Dure 
alabaster  vase  is  shattered,  but  its  perfume 
spreads  abroad!  This  the  saint  had  predicted;  this  really 
happened.  Hardly  had  the  virgin  closed  her  eyes, when 
the  secrets  hidden  in  the  depths  of  the  convents  of  Paray, 
Dijon,  Moulins,  Semur,  escaped.  Father  Croiset  pub- 
lished the  "Abridged  Life  "  of  the  saint;  her  incompar- 
able Memoire  saw  the  light;  and,  in  a  flash,  the  report  of 
the  sublime  revelations  of  the  Sacred  Heart  filled  France 
ana  the  whole  Church. 

It  seems  that,  even  if  such  a  revelation  were  not 
entnusiastically  welcomed  by  all,  it  could  nowhere  meet 
with  opposition:  for  what  is  more  natural  than  devo- 
tion to  the  Heart  of  Jesus?  What  more  luminous  has 
ever  sprung  from  Christianity  or  from  humanity  than 
devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  ?  Everywhere  and  always 
has  the  heart  of  man  been  honored:  why,  then,  be  aston- 
ished that  we  should  adore  the  Heart  of  the  Man-God  ? 

The  heart  is  the  organ  of  love.  Scarcely  come  into 
the  world,  even  before  putting  his  hand  on  his  forehead 
to  say,  "I  think,"  man  puts  his  hand  on  his  heart  and 
says,  "I  love!"     is  this  God's  inspiration?  is  it  innate 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        291 

impulse?  is  it  instinctive  movement?  Whatever  it  may- 
be, from  it  man  has  not  varied  for  six  thousand  years. 
Take  the  greatest  geniuses  of  antiquity:  Moses,1  Job,2 
David,3.  Solomon,4  Isaias;5  take  Homer,6  Euripides,7 
Theocrites,8  Ovid,9  Plautus: ,0  to  them,  as  to  St.  Augus- 
tine, Dante,  Tasso,  Shakespeare,  Corneille,  Bossuet, 
Racine;  to  all  authors,  sacred  and  profane,  the  heart  is 
the  seat  of  the  strongest  affections.  It  is  expanded  in 
happiness,  it  is  contracted  in  sadness;  it  palpitates 
more  quickly  in  enthusiasm;  and  sometimes,  like  those 
musical  instruments  that  utter  strains  so  brilliant  under 
the  passionate  touch  of  some  great  artist,  it  breaks  with 
love. 

There  is  nothing  more  divine  in  the  natural  order  of 
things   than  the   union  of  our  soul  and  body.     If  our 


1  "  Diliges  Dominum  Deum  tuum  ex  toto  corde  tuo."  Deut.  vi.  5, 
X.  12,  xi.  13,  xxx.  2.     "  Cor  meum  diligit  principes." — -Jud.  v.  9. 

2  Job  xxix.  13,  xxxi.  9. 

3  "  Defecit  caro  mea  et  cor  meum.  Deus  cordis  mei,  et  pars  mea, 
Deus,  in  aeternum." — Psalm  lxxii.  26. 

4  "  Vulnerasti  cor  meum,  soror  mea,  sponsa,  in  uno  crine  colli  tui." 
— Cant.  iv.  9.  "  Ego  dormio,  et  cor  meum  vigilat." — Cant.  v.  2. 
"  Prsebe,  fili  mi,  cor  tuum  mihi." — Prov.  xxiii.  26. 

5  Passim,  in  more  than  ten  places. 

6  Horn.,  Iliad,  206;  Odyssey. 

7  Eur.,  Hipp.,  26. 

8  Theocr.  xxix.  4,  et  Aristoph.,  Nab.  86. 

9  «<  Virginibus  cordi,  grataque  forma  sua  est." — Ov.  Medic,  fac,  32. 

"  Molle,  cupidineis  nee  inexpugnabile  telis 
Cor  mihi,  quodque  levis  causa  moveret,  erat." 

Ov.  Prist. ,  iv.  10,  65. 
10  "  Corde  amore  inter  se." 

Plaut.  Capt.,  ii.  3,  60. 
*  Meum  mel,  meum  cor,  mea  colostra." 

Id.,  Pcen.,  i.  2,  154, 
"  Nunc  denum  sum  liber,  meum  corculum." 

Id. ,  Cas. ,  iv.  4,  14. 
Expressions  usual  among  all  Latin  authors  :  "  Cordi  esse;"  "Corde 
habere"     See  Forcellini,  Lexicon  totius  latinitatis. 


29 2  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

means  of  investigation  were  more  perfect,  we  should  see 
in  the  slightest  turnings  and  windings  of  the  brain  the 
revelation  of  the  most  imperceptible  thoughts  of  our 
mind.  In  like  manner,  if  a  delicate  hand,  the  hand  of  an 
angel  for  example,  were  laid  on  our  breast,  we  should 
discern  the  slightest  emotion  of  love,  whether  good, 
elevated,  pure  and  noble,  indifferent  or  bad,  that 
momentarily  causes  our  heart  to  beat. 

Thus,  in  all  times  and  under  all  skies,  when  an  em- 
blem of  love  is  needed,  men  represent  it  by  a  heart. 
This  remark  does  not  apply  so  much,  as  we  know,  to 
antiquity;  for  then  men  loved  with  the  senses,  and 
these,  alas!  were  what  they  made  use  of  as  symbols. 
Our  words  hold  good  for  Christian  times,  because  in 
them  man  loves  with  his  heart. 

Antiquity,  however,  though  almost  submerged  in  the 
sensual,  was  not^  wholly  ignorant  of  pure,  ideal  love; 
and  the  representation  of  a  heart  was  not  altogether 
unknown.  But  it  is  rarely  found  among  the  frivolous 
Greeks,  excepting  engraved  as  souvenirs  and  emblems1 
on  rings  and  medals.  The  Egyptians,  on  the  contrary, 
those  deep  thinkers,  deemed  the  heart  everything  in 
man's  home;  and  in  the  divine  scarabee,  which  the 
Egyptians  wore  upon  their  breast,  there  is  a  special 
mention  of  the  heart,  that  grand  power  of  man.2     It 

1  Heart.  ' '  This  form  is  very  ancient  in  the  arts.  We  find  it  in  the 
medals  de  Cardia  in  the  peninsula  of  Thrace.  It  is  a  sign  indicative  of 
the  name  of  the  city,  which  signifies  heart." — Dictionnaire  des  beaux- 
arts,  par  Millin,  membre  de  lTnstitut  (Paris,  1838).  "I  recollect," 
writes  the  learned  archaeologist  of  Autun,  M.Bulliot,  "  to  have  formerly 
seen  a  ring  (in  the  Jaubert  collection  at  Moulins-Engilbert)  bearing  a 
heart  with  a  Greek  legend.  The  collection  has  been  scattered,  un> 
fortunately,  without  hope  of  ever  again  being  collected."  See,  also,  a 
mirror  in  bronze,  in  M.  Dobree's  collection  at  Nantes,  representing 
Eolus  in  the  midst  of  the  Alcyones,  framed  with  a  border  of  hearts. 

2  Thanks  are  due  to  the  kindness  of  M.  Francois  Lenormand.  It  is 
one  of  the  new  proofs  that  science  furnishes  of  the  long  relations  of  the 
Jewish  people  with  the  Egyptians;  for  we  know  that  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        293 

was  the  same  with  the  Romans,  and  even  with  the 
Etruscans,  called  by  Cicero  "the  most  religious  of  all 
nations."  They  hung  around  the  neck  of  their  chil- 
dren jewels  frequently  in  the  form  of  a  heart,  to  remind 
them,  says  a  pagan  author,  that  without  the  heart  man 
is  nothing.1  And  even  in  their  infancy,  as  if  fearing 
that  the  lesson  might  come  too  late,  mothers  fastened  it 
to  the  curls  of  their  first-born.2  The  Gauls,  so  good,  so 
ardent,  so  tender,  and,  Tacitus  says,  so  chaste,  were  not 
strangers  to  this  great  doctrine.  We  have  reason  to 
believe  that  their  wives  wore  a  heart  suspended  from 
the     neck,3    and     that    the     husbands    wore    on    their 

tures  the  heart  is  very  frequently  mentioned.  Whoever  wishes  to  meas- 
ure the  extent  and  truth  of  this  remark  needs  only  to  open  a  concord- 
ance at  the  word  Cor. 

1  "  Nonnulli  credunt  ingenuis  pueris  attributum,  ut  cordis  figur  am 
in  bulla  ante  pectus  annecterent,  quam  aspicientes,  ita  demum  se  homi- 
nes cogitarent,  si  corde  praestarent." — Macrob. ,  Saturn.,  i.  6.  "Others 
believed  that  to  children  of  free  condition  the  right  was  accorded  to 
wear  on  the  breast  an  orna7nent  in  the  shape  of  a  heart,  that  the  sight 
of  it  might  awaken  the  thought  that  man  is  truly  a  man  only  by  reason 
of  his  heart." — Traduction  de  C.  de  Rosoy  (Paris,  Didot,  1827).  Accord- 
ing to  others,  "  this  ball  in  the  shape  of  a  heart  that  free  children  wore 
on  the  breast,"  etc. —  Traduct.  nouvelle  par  Henri  Decamps  (Paris, 
Panckoucke,  editor,  1845).  "These  balls,"  says  Montfaucon,  "  were 
hollow  in  order  to  contain  an  amulet,  according  to  Macrobe.  He 
found  nutnbers  heart-shaped,  others  round."  (Montfaug.,  Antiquite's 
explique'es,  t.  iii.)  The  Montfaucon  engravings  give  two  balls  on 
which  the  heart  is  engraved,  and  three  that  have  the  form  of  it  (PL, 
XXXVII).  Casale  in  his  work  De  Veterum  christian.  Ritibus  (Rom., 
1644,  p.  265)  cites  a  marble  statue  of  a  young  pagan  who  wore  a  heart 
on  the  gold  ball.  See  Caylus  also,  \*  Recueil  d?  Antiquite's"  t.  iv. 
Balls  in  the  form  of  the  heart:  PI.  XLIX.,  No.  1;  PL  L.,  No.  z\  PL 
XC,  No.  1. 

2  "  They  gave  it  to  little  children  also,  but  fastened  it  on  the  fore- 
head."— Montfaucon,  Antiqziite's  explique'es  supple'm.  46. 

3  See,  at  the  Besancon  museum,  a  heart  found  in  a  tomb  Gallo- 
Roman  d'Eternoz  (Doubs).  This  heart  is  formed  of  a  sort  of  paste, 
surrounded  by  silver  filigree  very  finely  wrought,  with  a  ring  to  suspend 
it  from  the  neck.  This  magnificent  Gallo-Roman  jewel  was  found 
with  bracelets,  swords,  cutlasses,  clasps,  etc.     See,  also,  at  the  museum 


294  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

finger  a  ring  on  which  were  engraven  two  hearts 
united.1 

What  was  only  a  germ  in  antiquity  soon  expanded 
under  the  more  genial  warmth  of  the  Gospel.  The 
golden  balls,  filled  with  charms  and  worn  by  young 
pagans  around  the  neck,  were  now  refilled  with  relics 
of  the  saints  and  martyrs,  the  image  of  whom  was  some- 
times engraven  on  them,  and  the  balls  themselves  grad- 
ually assumed  the  form  of  a  heart.2  This  form  or  rep- 
resentation of  a  heart  became  very  popular.  We  find 
it  engraven  on  the  pedestals  of  sacred  vessels,3  and  on 

of  Saint-Germain-en-Laye,  in  that  portion  called  the  Merovingian  Hall, 
another  heart  like  this,  similar  in  material  and  size,  but  wrought  with 
less  taste  and  delicacy.  See,  in  the  Orleans  museum,  a  little  gold 
medal,  round  in  form,  whereon  is  engraven  a  heart.  There  is  a  little 
ring  to  it,  which  proves  that  it  was  worn  from  the  neck.  These  three 
very  precious  jewels  are  Gallo-Roman  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  fix  their 
precise  epoch.  See,  in  fine,  a  heart  in  bronze  of  great  antiquity,  found 
in  the  forest  of  Compiegne  (Museum  of  Saint-Germain,  Hall  of  Mars). 

1  Rings  in  gold  or  silver  found  at  Veillois  (Poitou)  closed  by  two 
united  hearts,  changing  in  color  and  made  of  a  transparent  paste  en- 
graved. The  Gallo-Roman  rings  are  very  numerous.  We  have  seen 
three  at  the  museum  of  Nantes,  in  the  private  collection  of  M.  Paren- 
teau.  Are  these  rings  pagan  or  Christian  ?  It  is  hard  to  say,  the 
subjects  engraven  on  the  paste  being  but  ill-preserved. 

2  From  this  usage  sprang  that  of  the  Christians  wearing  on  the  breast 
Agnus  Dei  made  from  paschal  wax  in  the  form  of  a  heart.  See  the 
great  work  of  Fanciroli  {La  Bulla  d'oro  de"  fanciulli  romani,  Romfe,i732, 
p.  14).  Museum  of  Cluny,  jewels  found  in  the  Seine,  quay  of  the  gold- 
smiths. See  also  nine  specimens  of  hearts  worn  on  the  neck,  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries.  Very  often  the  heart  is  hollow,  and  in  it  is 
the  statuette  of  a  saint. 

3  The  most  remarkable  vase  from  this  point  of  view  is  what  they  call 
the  Gourdon  chalice  (at  the  Museum  of  Medals  in  Paris).  It  is  not  a 
chalice,  but  very  probably  a  holy-oil  vase  for  Confirmation.  On  the 
base  is  found  a  Latin  cross,  the  corners  ornamented  by  four  hearts,  one 
in  garnets,  the  others  in  turquoise.  The  little  vase  is  itself  ornamented 
with  a  garland  of  hearts.  This  precious  memorial  was  found  with 
some  gold  coin  of  the  sixth  century,  from  518  to  527,  under  the  reign 
of  the  Emperor  Justin. 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        295 

the  crowns  of  kings.1  They  painted  and  embroidered 
it  on  the  most  precious  textures  of  the  Middle  Ages;2 
we  are  pleased  to  find  it  even  in  the  games  and  relaxa- 
tions of  life;3  above  all,  they  engraved  it  on  marriage- 
rings.4  It  was  suspended  from  altars,  and  placed  on 
tombs  as  a  souvenir,  a  symbol  of  affection  that  survives 
death.5 

Soon  chivalry  arose.  As  it  had  need  of  a  mysterious 
sign  to  hide  and,  at  the  same  time,  reveal  the  face  be- 
neath the  casque,  heraldry  was  invented.  And  now  the 
heart  appeared  sparkling  under  a  thousand  various 
forms  in  the  armorial  bearings  of  the  oldest  families  of 
England,  Germany,  France,  Italy,  Belgium,  etc.  It  was 
a  heart  wounded  or  inflamed;  again  two  hearts  united; 
or  a  heart  crowned;  a  heart  pierced  with  an  arrow,  etc., 

1  Not  having  seen  the  original  and  knowing  only  one  design  of  it,  we 
merely  repeat  the  words  of  others  when  we  say  that  on  the  celebrated 
iron  crown  at  Monza,  a  crown  of  the  Byzantine  style  ornamented  with 
diamonds,  there  are  four  hearts  set  in  the  four  corners.  (Du  Sorn- 
merard,  Les  Arts  an  Moyen  Age,  Album,  X.  serie,  planche  XIV. ,  No. 6.) 

2  See  the  rich  silk  stuffs  preserved  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  On  one  of 
these  Byzantine  stuffs,  of  solid  green  and  red,  we  see  swans  facing  each 
other,  and  on  the  border  a  series  of  hearts,  also  facing  each  other. 
{Melanges  cFarche'oIogie,  par  les  PP.  Charles  Cahier  et  Arthur  Martin. 
Paris,  Poussielgue,  1851.  Tome  II.,  PI.  XII.)  See,  also,  at  Fonte- 
vrault,  the  statue  of  Isabella  d'AngouIeme,  wife  of  John  Lackland, 
died  in  1 21 8.  On  the  corsage  of  her  robe  are  three  hearts  reversed. 
(Annates  archil.,  v.  p.  281.) 

3  This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  into  a  dissertation  on  the  game  of 
cards.     We  know  its  antiquity,  and  the  part  that  the  heart  plays  in  it. 

4  See  records  of  marriages  at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  and  the 
fifteenth  centuries.  There  are  numbers  of  them,  and  the  wedding-rings 
are  always  two  hearts  united  together  with  an  infinite  variety  of  most 
delicate  devices. 

6  See  some  of  the  primitive  churches,  the  ' '  Marble  of  St.  Agnes" 
cemetery  (V.  Boldetti,  Osservationi  supra  i  cimiteri,  Roma,  1720, 
P-  373)>  where  three  hearts,  perfectly  formed,  surround  a  little  grated 
opening  destined,  according  to  all  appearances,  to  let  the  eye  penetrate 
into  the  interior  of  a  tomb. — Diction,  des  antiq.  chrttiennes ,  par 
l'Abbe  Martigny:  Cceur. 


296  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

ingenious    revelation    of    the    heart,    sensitive,  loving, 
wounded,  or  sad,  that  beat  under  the  corselet  of  steel.1 

But  they  were  not  to  pause  here.  Homages  grander, 
more  striking,  were  to  demonstrate  man's  idea  of  the 
human  heart.  These  representations  of  the  heart  in 
gold,  silver,  or  precious  stones  were,  after  all,  very- 
cold  !  Why  is  it  that  when  a  great  man,  a  hero,  a  bene- 
factor, a  saint  dies,  his  fellow-men  respectfully  open 
his  breast?  Why  do  they  draw  out  his  heart,  that 
sacred  relic  of  love,  and,  embalming  it  in  the  per- 
fumes of  gratitude,  preserve  it  as  a  souvenir  ?  This  is 
done  everywhere.  Everywhere  is  preserved  man's  heart ; 
it  is  even  borne  in  triumphal  procession  ;  it  is  given  an 

1  In  France,  for  example,  the  families  of  : 

Lemin  de  Bransac — three  silver  hearts,  engraved  two  at  the 

head,  the  other  at  the  point,  of  the  shield. 
Du  Garreau  (in  Limousin  and  in  Perigord) — field  of  sky-blue 

with  a  stripe  of  gold,  at  the  base  a  heart  of  the  same,  having 

a  cross  also  of  gold. 
De  Lestang  (in  Berri) — two  hearts  opposite  to  the  base  of  the 

shield. 
D'Arnoult — a  stripe  of  red  on  a  field  of  silver,  with  three  hearts 

placed  two  at  the  base,  the  other  at  the  apex,  of  the  shield. 
De  Cuers  de  Gozolin — azure   on  a  field  of  gold,  with  three 

hearts  of  the  same,  two  at  the  base,  and  the  third  at  the  apex, 

of  the  shield. 
De  Cursai — on  a  field  of  silver  a  fiery-red  heart,  supported  by 

cross-pieces,  also  red. 
Lemercier  de  Maisoncelle — azure  on  a  field  of  silver,  with  two 

golden  stars  at  the  base  of  the  shield  and  a  heart  of  gold  at 

the  apex. 
In  England,  see  the  families  of : 

Cathcart — a  hand  holding  a  crowned  heart  above  the  coat-of- 

arms,  in  the  centre  of  which  is  a  heart  uncrowned. 
Cockburn — a  heart  in  the  centre  of  the  coat- of -arms. 
Douglas — two  hearts  crowned. 
Johnstone — a  single  heart  crowned. 
Morton — two  hearts  crowned. 
Queensberry — two  hearts  crowned. 
Torphichen — four  hearts  crowned. 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        297 

exceptional  burial  ;  and  there  is  not  one  of  our  cathe- 
drals that  does  not  contain  some  example  touching  the 
sublime  veneration  of  man  for  the  heart  of  man.1 

Soon  a  still  more  delicate  thought  was  evoked.  On  the 
brink  of  the  tomb,  when  searching  for  what  was  most 
precious  to  bequeath  the  tenderly  loved,  disdaining 
gold  and  silver,  fit  only  to  reward  inferior  services,  man 
conceived  the  idea  of  leaving  his  heart  to  his  dearest 
ones.  This  under  a  symbolical  form  was  the  legacy  of 
that  love  with  which  it  had  been  consumed.  Cremation 
had  deprived  the  ancients  of  this  touching  and  sublime 
legacy.  In  Christian  times  it  became  universal.  Kings, 
queens,  princes,  bishops,  even  the  saints  made  such  do- 
nations. When  wandering  through  our  ancient  basilicas 
and  abbeys,  Saint-Denis  for  example,  or  Fontevrault, 
we  meet  at  every  step  urns  of  marble,  alabaster,  or 
bronze,  containing  the  heart  of  a  king,  a  queen,  or  a 
prince.  Though  possessing  immense  lands,  they  de- 
clared that  what  they  could  leave  most  precious  to  those 
whom  they  loved  was  their  heart.2 

1  See,  among  others,  at  Saint-Denis  :  An  urn  of  white  marble, 
sculptured  by  John  Goujon,  containing  in  the  days  of  yore  the  heart  of 
Francis  I.  A  spiral  column  surmounted  by  a  bronze  urn,  on  which 
three  cupids  support  a  heart:  in  the  urn  was  once  inclosed  the  heart 
of  Henry  III.  Another  sculptured  column,  surmounted  by  an  urn, 
once  contained  the  heart  of  Francis  II.  See,  at  Nantes,  the  magnifi- 
cent jewel  set  in  gold,  in  which  was  inclosed  the  heart  of  Queen  Anne 
of  Brittany,  wife  of  King  Louis  XII.,  etc. 

2  For  example,  Richard  Coeur-de-Lion,  who,  dying  (1199),  be- 
queathed his  body  to  Fontevrault,  his  heart  to  Rouen.  In  like  manner, 
John  Lackland's  heart  was  deposited  at  Fontevrault  (1216)  in  a  golden 
cup  near  the  tomb  of  Henry  II.,  King  of  England,  deceased  in  1189. 
At  Fontevrault  the  tomb  of  Isabella  d'Angouleme  (121 8)  contained  a 
golden  vase  inclosing  the  heart  of  King  Henry  III.,  her  son.  Again, 
Henry  IV.  gave  the  Jesuits  his  castle  of  La  Fleche  in  which  to  establish 
a  college,  and  there  he  wished  his  heart  to  be  preserved.  (Duruy,  Hist, 
de  France,  ch.  li.  §  5.)  St.  Chantal  gave  her  heart  to  the  Visitation  of 
Paris,  etc. ,  etc.     There  are  thousands  of  examples  of  this  custom. 

[Mgr.  Bougaud's  own  heart  now  rests  in  the  Sacred  Heart  chapel  of 
the  Visitation  Convent  at  Orleans.     It  is  sealed  in  a  leaden  box  inclosed 


298  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

This  is  the  history  of  humanity.  Right  or  wrong,  foi 
six  thousand  years,  it  has  been  thought  that,  if  there 
is  anything  of  value  on  this  poor  earth,  it  is  love  ;  and 
that  the  sanctuary  of  love,  its  tabernacle,  its  consecrated 
ciborium,  is  the  heart.  It  has  despised  all  else.  Love 
alone  was  esteemed,  love  alone  was  borne  in  triumph. 
Not  the  dust  of  man's  sword,  nor  of  his  sceptre,  nor 
even  that  of  his  genius  has  been  honored  ;  but  on  the 
whole  face  of  the  globe,  has  been  carried  in  triumph  only 
the  dust  of  his  heart.  Moreover,  let  that  heart  have  been 
a  beneficent  one,  noble,  elevated,  pure, — a  heart  that  beat 
for  others  instead  of  itself, — and  with  more  reason  are 
exceptional  honors  paid  it.  Is  it,  then,  astonishing  that 
when  a  heart  that  surpassed  all  hearts  appeared,  unpre- 
cedented enthusiasm  was  felt  for  it  ?  Had  it  been  only 
the  heart  of  a  man, it  might  have  been  carried  in  triumph : 
but  it  was  the  Heart  of  the  Man-God  !  Homage,  there- 
fore, could  not  suffice  ;  adoration  was  necessary. 

Here  we  are  shocked  by  one  of  those  problems  of 
which  there  are  millions  in  the  history  of  our  poor 
nature.  As  long  as  there  was  question  of  loving,  honor- 
ing, exalting  man's  heart,  not  one  objection  was  raised  ; 
but  as  soon  as  there  was  question  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus, 
it  became  the  object  of  outrageous  abuse. 

in  a  casket  of  oak.     The  following  is  the  inscription  at  the  base  of  the 
monument : 

1 '  Here  rests  in  the  peace  of  the  Lord 

The  heart  of  the  most  Reverend  and  Illustrious 

L.  V.  E.  Bougaud, 

Bishop  of  Laval, 

Former  Vicar-General  of  the  Diocese  of  Orleans, 

Who  deserved  well 

Of  the  Visitation  of  Holy  Mary 

For  writing  in  an  able  manner 

The  Life  of   St.  J.   F.  de  Chantal 

And  that  of  Blessed  Margaret  Mary, 

And  who  was,  by  his  numerous  Writings 

And  Discourses,  the  Signal  Defender  of   the  Church." 

—  Translator  s  Note.] 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        299 

Strange  !  The  grandest  and  most  legitimate  ideas, 
the  most  touching  of  all  that  religion  consecrates, 
are  scornfully  rejected.  What  is  there  more  beautiful, 
more  manifest  to  the  eyes  of  the  heart  than  the  unity  of 
the  human  species,  the  brotherhood  of  all  men  and  all 
peoples  ?  Suppose  that  the  Bible  taught  the  contrary, 
with  what  indignation,  with  what  efforts  of  science 
would  men  affirm  the  fact  that  we  are  all  brethren  ! 
But  no  ;  because  the  Bible  thus  declares,  they  expend 
the  treasures  of  mind,  wit,  and  learning  to  prove,  first, 
that  we  have  nothing  in  common  with  the  negro  race  ; 
and  secondly,  by  way  of  retaliation,  that  we  are  the 
children  of  lower  animals,  of  apes  and  baboons.  A 
similar  thing  happened  when  there  was  question  of  the 
Heart  of  Jesus.  Hardly  had  this  sweet  and  august  sign 
begun  to  rise  above  the  world  than  commenced  uni- 
versal revolt  and  conspiracy.  Jansenists,  rationalists, 
wits,  scholars,  priests,  and,  alas!  even  bishops,  seized  the 
pen,  and  left  untried  no  species  of  raillery  and  contempt 
in  their  effort  to  destroy  tender  and  deep  devotion  to 
the  Sacred  Heart. 

One  called  it  a  new  devotion.  As  if  the  Church  inter- 
dicted, or  ever  could  interdict,  new  devotions  !  A  devo- 
tion is  not  a  dogma  ;  it  is  an  act  of  love.  To  ask  the 
Church  not  to  have  new  devotions  is  to  ask  a  glowing 
furnace  not  to  dart  its  flames  heavenward  ;  it  is  to  ask 
a  heart  that  loves  to  hide  within  itself  every  manifesta- 
tion of  tenderness,  never  to  grow  young  again  by  a  new 
expression  of  the  unchangeable  love  that  forms  the 
depths  of  its  soul.  It  is  over  eighteen  hundred  years 
since  Jesus  Christ  died  on  the  cross,  over  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  since  the  Church  at  His  feet  adored  and 
loved  Him  ;  but  imagine  not  that  at  all  times  that  love 
and  adoration  were  testified  in  the  same  way.  There 
were  periods  in  which  she  kissed  in  preference  His 
sacred  feet  wearied  in  seeking  us  ;  and  others  in  which 
His  brow  crowned  with  thorns,  His  face  furrowed  with 


3°°  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

tears,  most  deeply  touched  her  soul.  To-day  we  rise  to 
His  breast,  we  press  our  lips  to  His  Sacred  Heart  in 
eager  desire  to  warm  and  inflame  our  own  cold  heart. 
Strange  people  that  ye  are,  ye  that  attack  the  Church  ! 
If  we  Catholics  do  not  advance,  if  we  intrench  ourselves 
in  our  immutable  doctrines,  ye  say  that  we  are  mum- 
mies. And  if  we  do  advance,  if  we  display  the  love  that 
is  in  us,  ye  say  that  we  are  inventors  of  novelties.  Ye 
ignore  and  blaspheme  the  double,  the  sublime  character 
of  the  Church,  the  immutability  of  faith,  and  the  prog- 
ress of  love! 

Others  called  the  devotion  absurd.  What !  absurd  to 
honor  a  father's  heart  !  To  love,  to  venerate,  to  pre- 
serve with  filial  piety  a  mother's  heart  !  So  incensed 
were  some  minds  at  seeing  the  Heart  of  the  Man-God 
receiving  Christian  adoration  that  they  began  forthwith 
to  deny  that  man  has  a  heart.  In  order  to  be  able  to 
combat  this  noble  organ  even  in  the  breast  of  the  Man- 
God,  they  preferred  giving  the  brutal  lie  to  the  manifest 
consent  of  mankind  which  has  always  made  the  heart 
the  seat  of  the  affections.  They  called  man's  heart  a 
little  morsel  of  flesh  ' — a  muscle;"1  and  in  the  picture  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  they  only  saw  a  great  shining  liver?  clearly 
evidencing  by  their  fury  that  a  decisive  stroke  was 
hurled  against  it. 

Others,  again,  they  of  the  fastidious  class,  found  the 
devotion  too  material.  "  Adore  matter  !  Adore  flesh  !" 
they  said.  "What  a  degradation  !"  As  if  it  had  just 
entered  man's  mind  that  the  material  Heart  of  Jesus 
Christ  was  to  be  separated  from  the  sacred  fire  of  His 
love  to  which  we  offer  our  homage  and  veneration  I 
As  if  the  Heart  of  Jesus  Christ  were  more  material  than 
were  His  feet  and  His  hands,  which  we  kiss  ;  His  crown 
of  thorns,  which  we  carry  in  triumph  ;  His  cross  of 
wood,  which   He  stained    with  His  blood    and    before 

1  Lettre  pastorale  de  Scipien  Ricci,  eveque  de  Pistoie. 

8  Histoire  des  sectes  religieuses,  t.  ii.  p.  246.  3  Ibid.,  p.  269. 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        301 

which,  for  that  reason,  we  cast  ourselves  on  our  knees  ! 
No  ;  what  they  refused  to  adore  was  not  flesh  !  The 
time  was  approaching  in  which  these  vainly  scrupulous 
souls  would  adore  flesh,  living  and  defiled,  in  the  pro- 
faned sanctuary  of  Notre  Dame.  What  frightened 
them  was  the  suffering,  the  wounded  flesh  of  their  Re- 
deemer! They  pretended  that  to  adore  it  was  degrada- 
tion ;  though  at  heart  they  knew  well  that  the  adora- 
tion of  the  wounded  flesh  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  condem- 
nation of  concupiscence  in  our  own  flesh,  the  apotheosis 
of  pure  love,  the  glorification  of  sacrifice  ;  that  is  to 
say,  honor  rendered  to  what  is  greatest,  noblest,  most 
intellectual,  and  most  divine  in  the  heart. 

Happily,  there  is  humanity  higher  than  man.  Higher 
than  the  narrow,  violent,  superficial  portion  that  van- 
ishes like  the  waves  of  passion,  like  the  storms  of  wrath, 
there  is  a  calm,  tranquil  humanity  that  listens  to  false 
reasoning  with  a  smile,  and  then  passes  on. 

This  was  what  happened  in  the  present  case.  Corre- 
sponding to  the  deepest  wants  of  the  human  soul,  sweetly 
and  efficaciously  responding  to  the  sad  wounds  of  this 
epoch,  the  devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  began  its  tri- 
umphal march  from  the  day  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary's 
death.  The  Visitation  Order  gave  the  signal.  Paray, 
Dijon,  Semur,had  already  set  up  the  banner  of  the  Sacred 
Heart.  The  following  years  saw  all  the  other  convents 
rallying  around  it:  in  1690,  Marseilles,  Montbrison, 
Nantes  ;  in  1691,  Autun,  the  first  convent  of  Lyons,  that 
of  Fribourg,  and  the  second  of  Rennes  ;  in  1692,  Besan- 
con,  Blois,  Loudun  ;  in  1693,  Aix,  Bordeaux,  Bourges, 
Farcalquier,  Langres,  the  second  of  Lyons,  Nevers, 
Valence,  Toulouse  ;  in  1694,  Dieppe,  Thonon,  the  second 
of  Marseilles,  Salins  ;  in  1695,  Chaillot,  Perigueux, 
Pont-a-Mousson,  Montargis  ;  in  1696,  Nancy,  Aurillac, 
Romans,  Naples  ;  in  1697,  the  first  of  Rouen,  Rumilly, 
Arone,  Caen,  Condrieux  ;  in  1698,  the  second  of  Paris, 
Orleans,  Mamers,  Vannes  ;  1699,  Montf errand  ;  in  1700, 


302  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Troyes,  Metz,  Saint-Etienne,  and  shortly  after  Amiens,. 
Auxerre,  etc.  The  seventeenth  century  is  nearly  ended. 
Only  ten  years  had  passed  since  Margaret  Mary  died, 
and  already  the  Visitation  houses,  one  after  another, 
had  risen  to  consecrate  themselves  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus. 
We  would  be  interminable  did  we  undertake  to  relate 
all  the  touching,  beautiful,  and  sublime  facts,  all  the 
charming  episodes  that  marked  the  triumphal  march  of 
the  devotion  of  the  love  of  Jesus  throughout  the  Visita- 
tion. Its  convents  drew  from  it  strength  to  remain  fer- 
vent amid  the  defections  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
tenderly  loving  in  face  of  the  cold  sophisms  of  Jansen- 
ism. This  sacred  fire,  so  carefully  guarded  by  the 
Visitation,  though  sad  were  the  times,  shone  through 
her  grates.  Each  Community  became  the  centre  of  a 
Confraternity  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  by  means  of  which 
the  whole  neighboring  country  grew  warm  again.  To 
cite  only  one  fact  :  in  1698,  eight  years  after  Margaret 
Mary's  death,  the  Confraternity  of  Dijon  numbered 
from  twelve  to  thirteen  thousand  associates,  not  only 
in  Burgundy,  France,  but  in  Spain,  England,  and 
Germany. 

Such  a  movement  would  not  have  been  possible  if  the 
French  bishops,  the  Superiors  of  the  Visitation  con- 
vents, had  not  approved  it.  But  we  find  them  every- 
where blessing  chapels,  erecting  Confraternities,  and 
presiding  at  those  first  feasts  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  so 
private,  so  recollected,  and  so  sweet,  in  the  interior  of 
the  convents. 

Soon,  however,  they  opened  to  it  their  cathedrals.  In 
1688,  Charles  de  Brienne,  Bishop  of  Coutances,  estab 
lished  in  his  diocese  the  feast  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of 
Jesus.  In  1694,  Antoine  Pierre  de  Grammont,  Arch, 
bishop  of  Besancon,  ordered  that  it  should  be  celebrated 
in  his  metropolitan  see.  In  17 19,  Francois  Villeroy, 
Archbishop  of  Lyons,  published  an  admirable  pastoral  in 
favor  of  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart,  which   he  also 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        303 

established  himself  in  all  the  churches  of  his  diocese. 
Every  year  saw  similar  things.  But  though  triumphant, 
the  march  of  the  devotion  of  love  was  still  slow  and 
timid,  until,  all  at  once,  in  1720,  thirty  years  after  the 
death  of  Margaret  Mary,  an  extraordinary  fact  occurred 
to  hurry  it  on. 

The  pestilence  from  the  East  burst   upon  the  city  of 
Marseilles,  and  in  a  short  time  reaped  a  harvest  of  forty 
thousand  souls.     The  silence  of  death  fell  on  the  streets 
and  public  places  encumbered  by  dead  bodies.     In  vain 
had    the    survivors    recourse    to    penance   and    prayer. 
Nothing  could  disarm  the   divine  anger.     At   last  the 
saintly  prelate  of  Marseilles,  Mgr.  de  Belzunce,  received 
a  heavenly  inspiration.     It  came  to  him  from  a  religious 
of  the  Visitation,  Sister  Anne-Madeleine  Remusat,  to 
whom   he   frequently  had    recourse  to   strengthen    his 
heart  and  rouse  his  courage,  and  who  never  ceased  to 
exhort  him  to  place  his  hope  in  the  Adorable  Heart  of 
Jesus.       One   day,    therefore,    November    2,    1720,    like 
another  Borromeo,  the  prelate,  barefooted,  a  cord  around 
his  neck,  a  cross  in  his  arms,  left  his  palace  accompanied 
by  all  his  religious  and   priests,   and   many  other  holy 
souls.      When    the    procession    reached    the    principal 
square  of  Marseilles  the  bishop  knelt,  and,  amid  silence 
broken  only  by  the  sobs  and   groans  of  the  assembly, 
solemnly  consecrated  his  diocese  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus. 
From  that  moment,  as  if  by  enchantment,  the  pestilence 
ceased  :  not  another  interment  took  place  at  Marseilles. 
The  municipal  body,  however,  had   taken  no   part  in 
the  public  demonstration  ;  two   years   later,  therefore, 
the    plague  reappeared.       Repenting    their    fault,    the 
authorities  vowed   to   go  yearly,   on    the    feast    of  the 
Sacred   Heart,   to   communicate   in   the   Church  of  the 
Visitation,   there   offer  a    white  wax   taper  ornamented 
with  the  city  escutcheon,  and    take  part  on   that  same 
day  in  a  public  procession.     As  soon  as  the  proceedings 
were  drawn  up  and  signed  by  all  the  officials,  the  scourge 


3°4  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

ceased  with  the  same  suddenness  as  on  the  first  occasion. 
It  is  from  this  event  that  the  city  of  Marseilles  dates 
devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart,  so  productive  of  good 
during  the  horrors  of  the  Revolution,  and  which  in  our 
own  day  has  played  so  brilliant  a  part  in  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  souls. 

Such  events  could  not  overrun  a  country  so  Christian 
as  was  Provence  at  that  time  without  shedding  their 
radiance  everywhere.  After  the  example  of  the  illus- 
trious Henry  de  Belzunce,  the  Archbishops  of  Aix, 
Aries,  Avignon,  as  well  as  the  bishops  of  Toulon  and 
Carpentras,  hastened  to  issue  orders  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  feast  in  their  respective  dioceses.  Soon 
the  whole  south  proclaimed  devotion  to  the  Sacred 
Heart. 

Shortly  after,  and  under  circumstances  most  favorable, 
the  long-expected  history  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary 
appeared.  Its  author  was  Mgr.  Languet,  formerly 
vicar-general  of  Autun,  Superior  of  the  Visitation  of 
Paray,  and  at  that  moment  Archbishop  of  Sens.  No 
one  was  more  capable  of  knowing  Margaret  Mary  than 
he,  for  he  had  been  in  daily  communication  with  herself, 
her  contemporaries,  and  her  disciples.  Unfortunately, 
the  gloomy  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  slightly 
impressed  upon  him  its  mark  ;  and  besides,  the  violent 
attacks  of  the  rationalists  and  the  impious  had  rather 
hampered  his  piety.  Instead  of  narrating  he  discusses. 
He  tries  to  explain  what  he  should  have  enthusiastically 
contemplated.  The  eighteenth  century  was  not  made 
to  understand  such  a  figure,  nor  was  he  the  man  to 
paint  it  ;  therefore  his  work,  cold  and  incomplete,  timid 
and  indiscreet,  added  fury  to  the  tempest  that  it  should 
have  stilled. 

They  who  have  had  occasion  to  page  through  the 
writings  of  the  eighteenth  century,  pamphlets,  journals, 
light  poetry,  ecclesiastical  leaves,  all  so  infected  with 
venom,  may  form  some  idea  of  the  rage,  contempt,  and 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        305 

raillery  roused  against  Margaret  Mary  and  the  Sacred 
Heart.  We  have  had  in  our  hands  at  Dijon  a  collection 
of  manuscripts  in  which  are  found  the  verses  of  Piron, 
the  Christmas  carols,  satirical  ballads  of  la  Monnaye, 
letters  of  President  Bouhier,  and  sonnets  from  the 
various  Burgundian  wits  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
One  cannot  conceive  the  insipidity,  the  sottish  pleas- 
antry roused  by  the  name  of  Alacoque,  the  surname  of 
Margaret  Mary,  the  stupid  play  upon  words  connected 
with  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart,  the  sarcasm  launched 
against  Mgr.  Languet.  But  these  times  have  iong 
passed.  France  has  indeed  still  many  wounds  ;  but  more 
than  a  hundred  years  separate  us  from  such  an  epoch. 
Before  long  the  society  of  the  nineteenth  century  will 
appear  to  be  bound  and  strongly  welded  to  the  great 
society  of  the  seventeenth,  of  whom  she  is  the  legiti- 
mate daughter.  The  miserable  interval  between  them 
will  no  longer  be  reckoned.  It  is  like  a  lovely  morn 
and  a  balmy  evening  forming  one  beautiful  summer 
day,  though  its  noon  has  been  darkened  by  a  storm 
whose  last  traces  may  be  floating  far  off  on  the  edge  of 
the  horizon. 

Whilst  the  wits  spent  their  arrows  against  devotion  to 
the  Sacred  Heart,  it  continued  its  march,  exciting  anger 
and  arousing  enthusiasm,  wounding  and  captivating  the 
hearts  of  men.  It  had  already  left  France,  and  spread 
along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  In  1733  it  was 
established  at  Constantinople  ;  in  1740,  at  Aleppo  and 
Damascus,  in  Lebanon.  The  Life  o)  Saint  Margaret 
Mary,  translated  into  Arabic  and  published  at  Antora, 
a  city  of  Anti-Lebanon,  spread  through  the  vast  plains 
of  Ccele-Syria,  from  the  great  Hermon  to  the  Baltic. 
It  even  extended  further.  After  1709,  we  find  two  Con- 
fraternities of  the  Sacred  Heart  at  Macao,  another  at 
Pekin  ;  and  in  1743  a  third  was  erected  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  imperial  palace. 

Rome  is,  however,  always  slow  to  sanction  novelties 


306  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

in  devotion.  In  1726  Frederick  Augustus,  King  of 
Poland,  vainly  addressed  a  most  pressing  supplication 
to  Benedict  XIII.;  in  vain  had  the  French  bishops 
in  1728  conjured  the  See  of  St.  Peter  to  recognize 
the  feast  of  the  Sacred  Heart;  in  vain  did  the  King 
of  Spain,  Philip  V.,  and  shortly  after  the  prelates  of 
Poland,  formulate  a  similar  request.  Rome  would  not 
yield.  The  Congregation  of  Rites  even  issued  a  decree, 
by  which,  July  30,  1729,  on  the  decision  of  him  who 
was,  some  time  after,  to  become  Benedict  XIV.,  it  abso- 
lutely refused  to  authorize  the  demand.  And  lo,  the 
Jansenists  clapped  their  hands  with  joy!  What  was 
there,  however,  astonishing  in  the  hesitancy  of  the  Holy 
See  ?  There  was  question  of  a  private  revelation  not 
yet  canonically  examined;  of  a  religious  who  died,  it  is 
true,  in  the  odor  of  sanctity,  whose  process  of  canoniza- 
tion, begun  in  1715,  was  still  under  the  official  seals;  of 
a  devotion,  in  fine,  that  touched  the  most  profound  mys-< 
teries  of  Christianity,  but  of  which  the  first  theologians 
or  historians  had  spoken  in  so  inexact  a  way  that  one 
of  the  chief  and  most  pious  works  respecting  it  had 
been  put  on  the  Index.  The  devotion,  on  the  other 
hand,  bordered  so  closely  upon  the  physiological  ques- 
tion of  the  functions  of  the  heart  in  the  human  organ- 
ism that,  as  the  Jansenists  said,  they  could  not  decide 
the  one  without  the  other.  The  question  was,  then,  to 
be  considered  more  closely  before  giving  a  definite  solu- 
tion. Instead  of  censuring  the  Holy  See,  its  prudence 
makes  us  admire  it. 

Thirty-six  years  more,  1729-1765,  were  employed  in 
letting  the  question  mature  in  the  minds  of  theolo- 
gians, in  the  disputations  of  the  schools,  in  the  hearts 
of  Christians,  in  the  intuitions  of  saints,  until  one 
appeared  whom  Providence  had  chosen  solemnly  to 
inaugurate  the  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  through- 
out the  Church.  Scarcely  was  the  illustrious  Clement 
XIII.   seated   on  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  than,  prompted 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        307 

thereto  by  the  ever-increasing  intrigues  of  the  Jansen- 
ists  and  the  incessant  solicitations  of  the  prelates,  par- 
ticularly those  of  Poland,  the  question  was  again  agi- 
tated, and  decided  amidst  the  applause  of  the  Church. 
A  decree,  dated  1765,  granted  to  the  prelates  of  Poland 
and  the  Roman  Archconfraternity  permission  to  cele- 
brate with  Mass  and  proper  Office  the  feast  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus.  Liberty  was  left  to  other  prel- 
ates to  solicit  the  same  for  their  respective  dioceses. 
Hardly  had  this  decree  been  issued,  when  the  clergy 
assembled  at  Paris  hastened,  at  the  importunity  of  the 
pious  Queen  Marie  Leczinska,  to  subscribe  to  it;  and  it 
was  decided  that  the  devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus 
should  be  established  in  all  the  dioceses  of  France. 
Thus  did  God,  on  the  eve  of  their  great  misfortunes, 
reunite  Poland  and  France,  that  they  might  work 
together  at  the  spread  of  devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus 
in  the  Church.  We  may  believe  that  this  Heart,  the 
most  faithful  of  all  hearts,  will  one  day  return  all  that 
it  has  received. 

Thus  stood  affairs  in  1765.  Less  than  a  century  after 
Margaret  Mary's  death,  the  first  part  of  her  mission  was 
realized — the  devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  was  officially 
established  in  the  Church.  And  if  the  solemn  feast 
demanded  by  the  Lord  for  the  Friday  after  the  octave 
of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  is  not  yet  of  obligation,  it  is 
at  least  authorized  by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff.  The  rest 
is  only  a  matter  of  time. 

As  to  the  second  part  of  our  saint's  mission,  that 
which  regarded  France  and  the  king,  it  was  in  a  less 
advanced  state.  Louis  XIV.  died  too  blinded  by  his  pas- 
sions and,  when  they  were  chilled  by  age,  too  enervated 
by  his  pride,  to  have  any  suspicion  of  the  abyss  into 
which  his  errors  and  disorders  were  about  to  precipitate 
France.  Louis  XV.,  who  succeeded  him,  saw  the  danger, 
for  from  year  to  year  the  gulf  widened;  but  the  sight 
affected  him  little.     The  monarchy  would  last  as  long 


308  Life- of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

as  he,  and  the  future  mattered  not  to  this  voluptuous 
egotist.  For  a  greater  reason,  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other  dreamed  of  the  supernatural  remedy  God  had 
made  known  to  Margaret  Mary.  We  may  even  believe, 
seeing  how  little  they  interested  themselves  in  it,  that 
the  second  revelation  never  reached  them. 

However,  when  looking  at  it  more  closely,  we  are  per- 
suaded that  the  mission  confided  by  Margaret  Mary  to 
Mother  de  Saumaise  had  been  fulfilled,  and  that  Louis 

XIV.  knew  exactly  what  God  desired  of  him.  Sad  in- 
deed as  might  be  that  court  of  Versailles,  it  was  full  of 
the  Sacred  Heart.  It  was  that  Heart  that  there  consoled 
the  afflicted  queens,  the  deserted  wives,  souls  agitated 
by  sad  presentiments.  We  even  think  we  can  perceive 
in  those   more  nearly  related  to  Louis   XIV.  and  Louis 

XV.  certain  delicate,  indefinable  efforts  to  supply  for 
what  those  monarchs  should  have  done  and  which  they 
did  not  do.  If,  for  example,  the  first  convent  of  the 
Visitation  at  Paris  undertook  to  build,  in  1694,  on  the 
Mansart  plan,  a  handsome  chapel  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus, 
it  was  the  Queen  of  England,  Henrietta  Maria  of 
France,  aunt  of  Louis  XIV.,  who  laid  the  first  stone, 
and  who  wished  to  be  inscribed  first  on  the  register  of 
the  Confraternity.1  A  little  after,  the  third  convent  of 
Paris,  that  of  Chaillot,  decided  to  establish,  every  first 
Friday  of  the  month,  a  solemn  Benediction  with  an  Act 
of  Reparation  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  The  Duchess 
of  Orleans  was  frequently  perceived  assisting  at  it. 
Kneeling  on  the  ground  among  the  crowd,  she  was  seen 
trying  to  hide  herself,  her  tears,  and  her  painful  anxiety 
of  heart.2  At  the  same  time,  the  grand  personages  of 
the  court  pressed  around  Sister  Marie-Ele.onore,  Princess 
of  Lorraine,  a  poor  and  humble  religious  of  the  Visita- 
tion of  Paris,  supplicating  her  to  inscribe  them   on  the 

1  Circular  of  the  second  convent  of  Paris,  May  25,  1698. 

2  Circular  of  the  convent  of  Chaillot,  November  26,  1739. 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        309 

register  of  the  Confraternity  of  the  Sacret  Heart.1  A  lit- 
tle later,  at  the  court  of  Louis  XV.,  the  devotion  increased 
still  more.  By  the  side  of  those  salons  in  which  were 
enthroned  the  Pompadours  and  the  Du  Barrys,  there 
were  humble  oratories  in  which  the  most  admirable 
royal  family  in  tears  took  refuge:  the  pious  queen, 
Marie  Leczinska;  her  four  daughters,  one  of  whom  was 
Madame  Louise  of  France;  the  Dauphin,  father  of  Louis 
XVI.,  and  his  young  and  saintly  wife.  Never  before 
were  witnessed  scandals  so  closely  allied  with  virtues 
so  angelic.  In  the  whole  royal  family  devotion  to  the 
Heart  of  Jesus  was  alive.  It  betrayed  itself  in  so  marked 
a  manner  that  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  reve- 
lation to  the  saint  relative  to  the  king  of  France  was 
not  known  at  the  court.  It  was  the  queen,  the  pious 
and  admirable  wife  of  Louis  XV.,  Marie  Leczinska,  who 
solicited  and  obtained  from  the  bishops  of  France,  sum- 
moned to  Paris  for  the  assembly  of  1765,  that  the  public 
worship  of  the  Sacred  Heart  should,  "according  to  her 
ardent  desire,"  be  established  in  all  the  dioceses  of 
France.2  She  and  her  daughters,  amid  ineffable  pri- 
vate sorrows,  and  apprehensions  of  inevitable  public 
misfortunes,  found  no  other  consolation  than  in  devo- 
tion to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  The  Dauphin  went  further. 
He  caused  to  be  erected  in  the  very  palace  of  Ver- 
sailles, as  a  place  of  refuge  for  them  all,  a  chapel 
to  the  Sacred  Heart.3  It  was  thence  came  forth  one 
day,  beautiful  and  pure,  to  shut  herself  up  among 
the  Carmelites,  the  daughter  of  Louis  XV.,  Madame 
Louise  of  France,  whom  the  Church  has  already  de- 
clared Venerable,  and  who  is  going  to  be  raised  to  her 
altars.  If  the  sacrifice  of  an  unspotted  dove  were  in 
proportion  to  our  crimes,  France  would  have  been  saved; 

1  Circular  of  the  second  convent  of  Paris,  May   25,  1698.     Annee 
Sainte,  Life  of  Sister  Marie-Eleonore  de  Lorraine,  vol.  iii.  p.  128. 

2  Proces-verbaux  du  clerge,  t.  viii.  p.  1440. 

3  Life  of  the  Dauphin,  Father  of  Louis  XVI. 


3!0  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

but  it  had  been  ordained  in  the  adorable  designs  of  God 
that  even  the  immolation  of  the  king  should  not  suffice, 
and  that  France  should  be  saved  only  by  the  Sacred 
Heart. 

The  son  of  him  who  had  erected  an  oratory  to  the 
Heart  of  Jesus  in  the  palace  of  Versailles,  Louis  XVI., 
had  not  yet  mounted  the  throne  when  the  tempest  burst 
forth.  Its  progress  was  terrible.  Every  year  saw  an 
anchor  break  away,  and  soon  it  became  evident  that  no 
human  hand  could  stay  the  rudder.  Then  it  was  that 
the  unfortunate  Louis  XVI.  decided,  though  too  late, 
to  perform  an  action  which,  had  it  come  in  time,  would 
perhaps  have  averted  the  danger.  Cast  from  the  throne 
into  prison  ;  overwhelmed,  not  by  his  own  misfortunes 
(for  he  had  a  soul  magnanimous  enough  to  rise  above 
them),  but  by  the  misfortunes  of  France  ;  seeing  no  re- 
sources on  any  side,  he  thought  of  Saint  Margaret 
Mary,  and  of  the  secret  that  had  been  confided  to  his 
grandfather.  He  resolved  to  accomplish  the  consecra- 
tion of  France  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  which  God  had 
asked  of  his  fathers,  but  which  had  not  been  effected. 
With  that  hand  and  heart  with  which,  so  shortly  after, 
were  to  be  written  those  sublime  pages  called  the  "Last 
Will  of  Louis  XVI.,"  he  himself  drew  up  the  act  of  con- 
secration of  his  person  and  his  kingdom  to  the  Heart  of 
Jesus. 

We  give  this  act,  in  which  are  found  the  very  terms 
of  our  saint,  the  precise  things  that  God  had  asked  of 
her  ;  and  which,  coming  to  us  through  the  tears,  the 
anguish  of  Louis  XVI.  in  prison,  has  something  solemn 
and  tragic  in  it,  like  the  last  cries  of  a  shipwrecked  voy- 
ager still  vainly  striving  to  save  his  loved  ones. 

"Thou  seest,  O  my  God,  the  wounds  that  rend  my 
heart,  the  depth  of  the  abyss  into  which  I  am  fallen,  and 
the  innumerable  evils  that  encompass  me  on  all  sides  \ 
To  my  own  frightful  misfortunes  and  those  of  my 
family  are  joined,  to   overwhelm   my  soul,  those   that 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.       311 

sweep  over  the  face  of  my  kingdom.  The  cries  of  the 
unfortunate,  the  groans  of  oppressed  religious  sound  in 
my  ears.  An  interior  voice  again  warns  me  that  per- 
haps Thy  justice  reproaches  me  with  all  these  calami- 
ties, because  in  the  days  of  my  power  I  did  not  repress 
their  principal  sources,  namely,  the  license  of  the  people 
and  irreligion  ;  because  I  myself  have  furnished  trium- 
phant heresy  with  arms  by  favoring  it  with  laws  which 
have  increased  its  strength  and  rendered  it  audacious. 

"  O  Jesus  Christ,  Divine  Redeemer  of  all  our  iniqui- 
ties, it  is  into  Thy  Adorable  Heart  that  I  desire  to  pour 
out  my  afflicted  soul.  I  call  to  my  aid  the  tender  heart 
of  Mary,  my  august  protectress  and  my  mother,  and  the 
assistance  of  St.  Louis,  my  patron  and  the  most  illus- 
trious of  my  ancestors  !  Open,  O  Adorable  Heart,  and 
from  the  pure  hands  of  my  powerful  intercessors  receive 
graciously  the  satisfactory  vows  my  confidence  inspires 
me  to  make,  and  which  I  offer  Thee  as  the  simple  ex- 
pression of  my  sentiments. 

"  If,  by  an  effect  of  Thy  infinite  goodness,  O  God,  I 
regain  my  liberty,  my  crown,  and  my  royal  power,  I 
solemnly  promise  : 

"  1.  To  revoke  as  soon  as  possible  all  the  laws  that 
shall  be  pointed  out  to  me,  whether  by  the  Pope,  or  by 
a  council,  or  by  four  bishops  chosen  among  the  most 
virtuous  and  enlightened  of  my  kingdom,  as  contrary  to 
integrity  and  purity  of  faith,  to  the  discipline  and 
spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the  Holy  Roman,  Catholic, 
Apostolic  Church,  and  notably  the  civil  Constitution  of  the 
Clergy. 

"  2.  Within  a  year  to  take,  with  the  Pope  and  bishops 
of  my  kingdom,  all  necessary  measures  to  establish  in 
canonical  form  a  solemn  feast  in  honor  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  Jesus,  which  shall  be  celebrated  to  perpetuity 
throughout  France  on  the  first  Friday  after  the 
octave  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  This  shall  always 
be  followed  by  a  public  procession,  to  repair  the  out- 


312  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

rages  and  profanations  committed  in  the  holy  temples 
by  schismatics,  heretics,  and  bad  Christians,  during  the 
time  of  our  troubles. 

"  3.  Within  three  months,  counting  from  the  day  of 
my  deliverance,  to  go  in  person  to  the  church  of  Notre 
Dame  in  Paris,  or  to  any  other  principal  church  of  the 
place  in  which  I  may  be,  and  on  a  Sunday  or  feast,  at 
the  foot  of  the  main  altar,  after  the  Offertory  of  the 
Mass,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  celebrant,  pronounce  a 

SOLEMN  ACT  OF  CONSECRATION  OF  MY  PERSON,  FAMILY,  AND 

kingdom  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  with  the  prom- 
ise to  give  my  subjects  an  example  of  the  honor  and  love 
due  this  Adorable  Heart. 

"4.  During  the  course  of  a  year,  counting  from  the 
day  of  my  deliverance,  to  erect  and  decorate  at  my 
own  expense,  in  the  church  that  I  shall  choose  for  that 

purpose,  A  CHAPEL  IN  WHICH  AN  ALTAR  SHALL  BE  DEDI- 
CATED to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  which  shall 
serve  as  an  eternal  monument  of  my  gratitude,  and  of 
my  unlimited  confidence  in  the  infinite  merits  and  the 
inexhaustible  treasures  of  grace  inclosed  in  that  Heart. 

"5.  Lastly,  I  resolve  to  renew  every  year,  wherever 
I  may  be,  on  the  day  upon  which  the  feast  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  is  celebrated,  the  act  of  consecration  contained 
in  the  third  article,  and  to  assist  at  the  public  pro- 
cession that  shall  follow  the  Mass  of  that  day. 

"  To-day  I  can  pronounce  this  engagement  onty  in 
secret,  but  I  am  willing,  if  necessary,  to  sign  it  with  my 
blood.  The  most  beautiful  day  of  my  life  will  be  that 
on  which  I  shall  be  able  to  publish  it  aloud  in  the  church. 

"  O  Adorable  Heart  of  my  Saviour  :  may  my  right 
hand  be  forgotten,  and  may  I  myself  be  forgotten,  if 
ever  I  forget  Thy  benefits  and  my  promises,  if  ever  I 
cease  to  love  Thee  and  to  place  in  Thee  my  confidence 
and  consolation  !" 

Behold  the  consecration  of  France  to  the  Heart  of 
Jesus  by  the  lips^  or  rather  by  the  heart,  of  the  martyr- 


The  Devotion  begins  in  the  World.        313 

king  !  Who  does  not  feel  that  the  words  of  the  saintly 
Sister  really  reached  Louis  XIV.,  and  that  they  were 
transmitted  as  a  secret  hope  for  the  hour  of  peril  ?  All 
that  Margaret  had  asked  is  indeed  done  :  a  consecration 
of  France  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  ;  a  national  tempie 
erected  by  the  king,  as  an  eternal  monument  of  this 
consecration  ;  and,  lastly,  a  feast  and  a  solemn  proces- 
sion the  Friday  after  the  octave  of  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment. Whence  would  we  derive  all  these  facts,  did  we 
not  know  the  revelation  made  by  God  to  Saint  Mar- 
garet Mary,  and,  until  the  present,  hidden  in  the  archives 
of  the  Visitation  of  Paray?  Now,  all  this  the  king 
knew  ;  and  he  promised  in  his  own  name,  in  the  name 
of  the  royal  family,  in  the  name  of  France.  Will  there 
not  some  day  be  found  a  soul  to  do  honor  to  such  a  sig- 
nature ? 

After  writing  this  consecration  with  his  own  hand, 
Louis  XVI.  gave  it  to  Pere  Hebert,  his  .confessor,  Supe- 
rior-General of  the  Eudistes.  The  latter,  fearing  that  so 
important  a  document  might  be  lost,  immediately  made 
several  copies  of  it,  one  of  which  he  always  carried 
about  him.  When  himself  condemned  to  death,  he  hid 
it  at  the  moment  of  setting  out  for  the  scaffold  in  a  chink 
of  the  stones  of  his  prison.  The  other  copies  were  scat- 
tered, though  with  a  thousand  perils,  in  the  midst  of 
Christian  families.  At  the  same  time  began  to  be  dis- 
tributed from  hand  to  hand,  from  dungeon  to  dungeon, 
little  images  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  the  rallying  sign,  the 
gleam  of  hope.  Soon  even  they  were  hoisted  on  the 
battle-field  of  the  Vendee.  Had  these  images  come  from 
the  Temple,  and  did  they  know  of  the  consecration  of 
Louis  XVI.  ?  or  rather,  had  they  in  them  only  the  revela- 
tion to  Margaret  Mary,  and  did  they  obey  the  same  inspi- 
ration as  the  martyr-king  ?  However  that  may  be,  when 
they  rose  up  in  arms,  Henri  de  la  Rochejaquelin,  Lescure, 
Charette,  Cathelineau,  bore  the  Heart  of  Jesus  on  their 
breast.     This  was  the  last  thing  that  God  had  asked  of 


S^^Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Margaret  Mary.     The  Vendeaos  finished   the  work  of 
Louis  XVI. 

Why  did  not  Almighty  God  accept  such  a  consecration 
of  France  from  hands  so  pure,  from  a  heart  so  worthy  of 
being  heard  ?  one  feels  tempted  to  ask  in  amazement. 
But  we  soon  learn  the  reason.  It  was  because  Louis 
XVI.  was  not  king, — he  was  only  a  captive.  The  Vendeans 
were  the  giants,  the  mighty  ones, — but  they  were  not  France! 
France,  instead  of  proclaiming  the  consecration  of  Louis 
XVI.,  dragged  the  king  to  the  scaffold  ;  and  instead  of 
uniting  with  the  Vendeans,  shot  them.  The  national 
homage  demanded  by  God  did  not  yet  exist. 

Thus  ended  the  eighteenth  century.  When  standing 
at  a  distance  in  order  to  see  best,  we  perceive,  as  it 
were,  a  double  France  :  the  first  suffering,  the  second 
inflicting  the  pain  ;  the  France  of  the  victims,  and  the 
France  of  the  executioners.  On  the  victims,  to  support 
and  console  them,  beamed  the  Adorable  Heart  of  jesus. 
As  to  the  executioners,  they  also  adored  a  heart.  In  the 
threatening  shadow  in  which  they  hid,  or  under  the 
sinister  glare  that  enlightened  them,  we  see  some  car- 
rying in  triumph  the  heart  of  Voltaire,  and  others  kneel- 
ing before  the  heart  of  Marat. 

The  Heart  of  Jesus,  or  the  heart  of  Marat !  This  was 
the  cry  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  would 
be  well  for  it,  sooner  or  later,  to  receive  an  answer ! 


First-fruits  of  the  Devotion,  315 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE     FIRST-FRUITS     OF     DEVOTION     TO    THE    SACRtu 
HEART— THE  CHURCH  OF  FRANCE  VIVIFIED  IN  THE 
RAYS  OF  THE    SACRED    HEART— BEATIFICATION  OF 
SAINT  MARGARET  MARY. 

"Jam  hiems  transiit  ;  imber  abiit,  et  recessit.  Flores  apparuerunt 
in  terra  nostra  ;  vox  turturis  audita  est  in  terra  nostra;  vineae  florentes 
dederunt  odorem  suum.     Surge,  amica  mea,  speciosa  mea,  et  veni." 

"  For  winter  is  now  past,  the  rain  is  over  and  gone.  The  flowers 
have  appeared  in  our  land,  the  time  of  pruning  is  come  :  the  voice  of 
the  turtle  is  heard  in  our  land  :  the  vines  in  flower  yield  their  sweet 
smell.     Arise,  my  love,  my  beautiful  one,  and  come." — Cant.  ii.  11-13. 

AINT  MARGARET  MARY  gradually  came 
forth  from  obscurity.  She  rose  slowly  in  glory, 
leaning  on  her  Beloved.1  As  long  as  the  devotion 
to  the  Heart  of  Jesus  had  not  been  approved  at  Rome 
the  humble  Margaret  remained  in  obscurity.  But  it 
was  now  time  for  her  to  rise  to  our  altars,  that  the  glory 
of  the  revelatrix  might  show  forth  resplendently  the 
beauty  of  the  revelation. 

The  eighteenth  century  closed,  however,  without 
Margaret  Mary's  being  declared  Venerable.  Her  process 
of  canonization  had  been  begun  in  1715;  and  although, 
in  its  brevity,  it  felt  the  effects  of  the  sad  times  through 
which  it  was  passing,  though  it  had  neither  religious 
grandeur  nor  the  precision  and  abundance  of  details 
that  characterize  similar  grand  acts  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  enough  had  been  heard  from  contemporary 
witnesses,  and  too  many  admirable  facts  had  been  col- 
lected, to  allow  any  doubt  as  to  the  success  of  the  cause. 
But  the  acts  of  the  process  of  17 15   were  sleeping  in  the 

1  Cant.  vii.  5. 


316  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

episcopal  archives  of  Autun,  and  were  not  sent  to  Rome 
till  1820 — that  is,  after  an  interval  of  one  hundred  and 
five  years.  Pilgrimages  began  to  the  chapel  of  Paray; 
and  the  years  1745  and  '46,  periods  of  fearful  epidemics, 
saw  the  pilgrims  multiply.  The  name  of  Margaret 
could  not,  however,  be  mingled  with  public  prayers, 
and  her  body  rested,  without  other  glory  than  the  faith- 
ful rememberance  of  her  Sisters,  under  the  choir  slab 
where  it  had  been  laid  in  1690.  One  hundred  years  had 
flown,  and  nothing  was  yet  changed  in  her  regard. 

The  Revolution  swept  like  an  impious  whirlwind  over 
France,  uprooting  thrones,  overthrowing  altars,  sup- 
pressing convents.  That  of  Paray  was  closed  like  the 
others,  and  the  religious  driven  out.  Must  they,  then, 
abandon  that  cherished  sanctuary  of  the  Sacred  Heart, 
that  sanctuary  redolent  with  holy  memories  of  our  Lord, 
that  garden  in  which  He  had  appeared,  those  hallowed 
spots  upon  which  they  had  so  often  kissed  His  foot- 
steps? At  least  they  would  not  leave  without  taking 
their  treasure  with  them,  the  humble  wooden  casket 
that  contained  the  bones  of  their  saintly  Sister.  They 
laid  them  in  a  safe  place,  then  changed  their  dress  and 
separated,  some  to  their  own  families,  others  to  small 
houses  that  they  rented  in  the  city,  and  there  remained 
faithful  in  secret  to  their  God,  whom  they  were  no  longer 
permitted  to  adore  in  public.  There  they  lay  concealed 
until  the  Revolution  passed.  They  were  like  travellers 
surprised  by  a  storm  and  seeking  refuge  in  some  cave 
until  the  clouds  should  roll  away  and  sunshine  return. 

As  soon  as  liberty  was  restored  to  them,  they  took 
active  measures  to  regain  possession  of  their  convent. 
But,  alas !  it  had  been  sold  as  public  property,  shared 
among  several  proprietors, — and  the  Sisters  were  poor! 
More  than  twenty  years  were  spent  in  fruitless  efforts. 
At  the  close  of  181 7,  seeing  that  their  exertions  amounted 
to  nothing;  that  death  was  diminishing  their  number 
without  their  having  resumed  the  religious  life  to  which 


First-Fruits  of  the  Devotion.  317 

they  had  been  consecrated  in  their  youth, — a  house  hav- 
ing been  offered  them  at  Charite-sur-Loire,  they  decided 
to  go  there.  As  we  have  seen  the  monks  of  the  Middle 
Ages  shouldering  the  relics  of  their  saints  and  fleeing 
before  the  incursions  of  the  Normans,  so,  on  quitting 
Paray,  the  Sisters  determined  to  carry  with  them  the 
humble  coffin  that  contained  the  precious  remains  of 
Margaret  Mary.  But  hardly  had  their  determination 
become  known  in  the  city,  than  it  excited  extraordinary 
commotion,  and  the  magistrates  interfered  to  oppose 
the  departure.  The  mayor  even  went  so  far  as  to  have 
the  city  seals  affixed  to  the  wooden  casket,  and,  as  in 
the  Ages  of  Faith,  they  set  a  guard  around  it.  Things 
remained  thus  till  June  16,  1823,  when,  under  the  pres- 
sure of  public  opinion,  and  with  charitable  assistance, 
the  Sisters  were  enabled,  at  a  cost  of  fifty  thousand 
francs,  to  regain  possession  of  their  old  home.  The  Rev- 
olution, that  had  demolished  so  many  abbeys  and  illus- 
trious convents,  had  respected  this  one.  It  was  stand- 
ing, old  and  battered  indeed,  but  still  complete.  The 
entire  city  conducted  processionally  the  aged  religious 
carrying  in  their  arms  the  remains  of  Margaret  Mary. 
No  painter's  brush  could  portray  the  emotion  of  those 
venerable  religious  on  again  beholding  that  chapel, 
those  grates,  the  witnesses  of  our  Lord's  apparitions ; 
the  little  cell  in  which  Margaret  Mary  died ;  the  stair- 
case of  the  seraphim ;  the  novitiate  oratory ;  the  grove 
of  hazels,  which  had  blossomed  and  was  actually  bloom- 
ing as  if  there  had  not  been  a  revolution;  the  chapel 
of  the  Sacred  Heart  in  the  middle  of  the  garden, 
closed  and  locked  by  the  religious  at  the  time  of  their 
departure,  and  into  which,  as  if  our  Lord  wished  to 
preserve  from  sacrilegious  contact  the  sanctuary  of  His 
Adorable  Heart,  no  one  during  the  whole  period  of  the 
Revolution  had  entered.  All  was  as  on  the  first  day; 
all  was  redolent  of  piety,  all  was  venerable,  full  of  in- 
effaceable traces  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  servant.     The 


3 18  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Sisters  mingled  their  tears  with  their  kisses,  and  forgot 
in  a  pious  rapture  their  thirty  years  of  exile  and  suffer- 
ing. 

One  of  the  places  that  had  most  suffered  was  the 
chapel.  The  arched  roof  was  full  of  cracks,  and  the 
pictures  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus  on  the  walls  were  cut  in  a 
thousand  places.  An  architect  proposed  demolishing 
the  old  building,  which  was  threatened  with  ruin,  and 
presented  the  religious  a  plan  for  a  grand  chapel  in  its 
stead.  But  the  bare  idea  inspired  them  with  horror, 
and,  thanks  to  the  good  old  nuns,  the  sanctuary  of  the 
communications  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  more  fortunate 
than  the  church  of  Verosvres,  was  preserved  to  the 
veneration  of  the  faithful. 

Reinstalled  in  their  convent,  the  Sisters  had  but  one 
thought :  that  of  resuming  as  quickly  as  possible  the 
cause  of  the  canonization  of  their  holy  Sister.  God 
blessed  their  endeavors,  for  in  the  course  of  the  year. 
March  30,  1824,  Leo  XII.  signed  the  commission  for  the 
introduction  of  the  cause,  and  the  servant  of  God  was 
declared  Venerable.  Six  years  after,  during  the  year  of 
1830,  the  Commissaries  Apostolic  arrived  in  France, 
delegated  by  the  Holy  See  to  inquire  into  the  heroic 
virtues  of  Margaret  Mary.  They  held  their  sessions 
during  five  entire  months  at  Paray ;  then  went  to  Autun, 
convoked  witnesses ;  followed  religiously  the  least  traces 
of  the  saint;  and,  before  returning  to  Rome,  wished  to 
proceed  to  the  opening  of  the  tomb  and  the  authentic 
recognition  of  the  relics.  The  diocesan  bishop,  Mgr. 
d'Hericourt,  presided  at  this  ceremony,  at  which  a  large 
number  of  priests  and  religious  assisted.  Four  physi- 
cians were  present.  The  coffin-lid  was  raised,  and  all 
that  remained  of  the  virginal  envelope  of  the  favored 
Sister — only  some  bones  exhaling  the  aroma  of  im- 
mortality— was  disclosed  to  the  reverent  gaze  of  the  by- 
standers. With  deep  emotion  they  contemplated  that 
head  which  our  Lord  had  one  day  pressed  to  His  breast ; 


First-Fruits  of  the  Devotion.  319 

those  large  cavities  whose  eyes  once  saw  Him  resplen- 
dent on  the  altar ;  that,  also,  of  the  heart  into  which  our 
Lord  once  put  His  hand,  and  kindled  by  His  sacred 
touch  the  divine  fire  which  consumed  the  saint.  This 
was  all  that  remained  of  the  mortal  temple  in  which  the 
great  soul  had  dwelt.  An  unlooked-for  circumstance 
suddenly  raised  the  general  emotion  to  the  highest  de- 
gree. The  bones  were  dried  up  and  the  flesh  consumed. 
The  head  alone  was  intact.  Wonderful  prodigy!  It 
had  resisted  the  corruption  of  the  grave.  That  portion 
of  the  human  body  so  fender,  so  delicate,  which  dis- 
solves so  quickly,  which  is  always  the  first  to  see  cor- 
ruption,— there  it  was,  after  one  hundred  and  forty  years, 
in  all  its  freshness !  One  could  not  believe  his  eyes. 
The  miracle  was  most  brilliant.  Four  physicians  at- 
tested it,  and  great  was  the  amazement  at  the  proces- 
verbal.  Thus  this  humble  though  great  religious, 
whom  the  eighteenth  century  had  overwhelmed  with 
raillery,  whom  the  Jansenists  treated  as  a  fool,  a  poor 
maniac,  a  deranged  head,  was,  from  a  scientific  and 
medical  standpoint,  proved  to  have  possessed  a  head 
that  was  the  best  constructed  part  of  her  whole  frame, 
since  it  was  the  part  that  best  resisted  the  action  of  death 
and  time. 

Two  extraordinary  cures,  one  of  which  was  submitted 
to  the  examination  of  the  Sacred  Congregation  and  was 
declared  miraculous,  filled  all  hearts  with  holy  joy. 

A  poor,  sick  Sister,  given  up  by  the  physicians,  Marie- 
Therese  Pitit,  had  been  confined  for  three  months  to  a 
bed  of  pain,  and  in  such  a  state  of  weakness  and  ex- 
haustion that,  even  by  putting  the  ear  to  her  mouth,  her 
words  could  with  difficulty  be  caught.  Learning  that 
Margaret  Mary's  tomb  was  to  be  opened,  she  rallied  her 
strength  in  the  ardor  of  her  faith,  placed  on  her  breast 
some  linen  that  had  been  around  the  holy  relics,  and 
on  the  instant  felt  in  the  region  of  her  heart  some 
wonderful  change.    Entirely  cured,  she  rose  at  once  and 


320  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

went  to  kneel,  happy  and  grateful,  at  the  tomb  of  her 
benefactress.  This  miracle  is  mentioned  in  the  Decree 
of  the  Miracles. 

The  same  day  a  poor,  infirm  workwoman  arrived  at 
the  tomb,  brought  thither  from  Lyons  by  a  charitable 
person.  As  she  could  not  walk,  she  had  to  be  carried. 
The  decay  consequent  upon  a  certain  accident  had  at- 
tacked her  bones,  and  made  such  progress  that  the  phy- 
sicians, having  removed  part  of  the  tibia,  declared  am- 
putation necessary.  Her  friends  bore  her  to  the  holy 
tomb,  where  she  at  once  arose,  knelt  without  pain,  and 
then  stood  erect.  She  had  become  so  strong  that  they 
who  had  brought  her  weak  and  helpless  now  took 
pleasure  in  letting  her  walk. 

It  was  under  the  lively  impression  of  all  these  events 
that  the  Apostolic  Notaries  finished  their  visit.  After 
the  proces-verbal  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  physicians, 
and  the  surgeons  sworn,  they  inclosed  the  holy  relics  in 
a  new  casket,  sealed  it  with  the  bishop's  arms,  and  re- 
spectfully deposited  it  under  a  slab  at  one  of  the  cor- 
ners of  the  cloister;  for  they  thought  the  hour  near  in 
which  they  should  bring  her  forth  again  with  glory,  to 
be  exposed  on  the  altar  for  public  veneration. 

That  day  was,  indeed,  to  come.  If  prodigies  that 
every  day  attested  her  sanctity  were  brilliant,  what  were 
they  beside  another  miracle  greater  still,  one  which  for 
over  thirty  years  was  accomplished  under  the  eyes  of 
the  astonished  nineteenth  century!  The  great  proof  of 
Margaret's  sanctity  lay  not  in  the  cure  of  the  sick.  It 
is  best  seen  in  the  Church  of  France  itself,  rewarmed, 
revivified  through  her  by  rays  from  the  Sacred  Heart. 
Thus  are  her  prophecies  realized;  thus  is  the  ice  of 
these  latter  times  melted.  It  is  the  Heart  of  Jesus  tri- 
umphing over  all  obstacles,  reigning  in  spite  of  Satan 
and  his  agents.  It  is  the  marvellous  renaissance  of 
faith,  of  piety,  of  the  purest  love  of  God,  of  the  most 


Shrine  of  St.  Margaret  Mary  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  chapel  in 
which  the  apparitions  took  place. 


The  Church  Vivified  in  the  Sacred  Heart,  321 

enthusiastic  devotedness  to  the  Church  in  France  of 
Louis  XV.,  of  Voltaire,  of  Robespierre,  and  of  Marat. 

Yes,  Catholic  France,  born  again  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  has  expanded  under  the  beams  of  the  Sacred 
Heart.  All  that  was  good  in  her  she  has  resuscitated 
and  developed,  she  has  displayed  in  flowers  more  beau- 
tiful than  ever,  in  fruits  more  sweet  and  luscious.  Be- 
hold, for  instance,  her  missionaries,  her  apostles !  At 
what  epoch  have  they  been  more  numerous,  more  poor, 
more  pure,  more  fruitful  than  in  the  nineteenth  century? 
We  travel  very  fast  to-day.  We  have  invented  steam, 
railroads,  the  telegraph;  but  there  is  one  that  travels 
more  quickly  still,  and  that  one  is  the  apostle.  When 
our  soldiers  push  on  to  the  very  extremities  of  the 
world,  even  to  the  walls  of  Pekin,  there  is  found  one 
awaiting  them,  one  to  receive  them  with  the  chant  of 
the  Te  Deum!  When  they  touch  upon  those  countries 
at  which  the  Englishman  himself,  the  commercial  Eng- 
lishman, pauses  for  want  of  courage  to  carry  further  his 
traffic,  there  is  found  one  that  does  not  stop,  one  that 
presses  on,  one  that  ever  advances :  it  is  the  French 
missionary,  reanimated,  rewarmed  in  the  nineteenth 
century  by  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  Christ. 

And  whilst  all  around  our  frontiers  this  army  of  apos- 
tles is  drawn  up,  who  here  in  France  does  not  feel  him- 
self likewise  rekindled? 

The  priest's  heart!  Ah!  compare  the  priest  of  1770 
with  the  priest  of  1870,  with  our  incomparable  French 
clergy  who,  under  the  fire  of  incessant  publicity  and 
evil-mindedness,  have  forced  admiration  from  even  their 
enemies. 

The  virgin's  heart!  France  knows  that  there  are  to- 
day on  French  soil  more  than  one  hundred  thousand 
maidens  who  have  left  all;  who  in  the  flower  of  youth 
and  beauty,  in  the  hour  of  sweetest  hopes,  have 
left  all  to  consecrate  themselves  to  the  love  and  adora- 
tion  of   Jesus   Christ !     One  hundred  thousand  young 


322  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

girls,  pure,  chaste,  vowed  to  the  sole  love  of  God  and 
mankind,  in  an  age  like  ours !  Who  does  not  see  here 
the  impression  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus  Christ  on  the 
heart  of  the  Church? 

The  heart  of  the  mother !  Ah !  it,  too,  will  be  sensi- 
bly warmed.  Never  at  any  epoch,  if  we  except  the  first 
ages  of  Christianity,  have  mothers  been  more  jealous  of 
the  beauty  of  their  children's  soul,  more  holily  eager  for 
their  salvation;  never  have  they  better  transformed 
their  maternity  into  the  priesthood,  and  their  love  into 
an  apostolate.  Our  century  is  undoubtedly  very  de- 
praved; but  the  mother's  heart  beats  too  sublimely  for 
us  not  to  hope  all  things  from  it.  Let  us  not  doubt 
the  age  of  the  Augustines  will  be  redeemed  and  trans- 
figured by  the  age  of  the  Monicas ! 

The  hearts  of  our  young  men!  Will  they  not  also  be 
rekindled?  Is  it  not  by  young  men  that  the  admirable 
society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  which  to-day  extends 
over  the  whole  world,  was  founded?  And  the  works  of 
St.  Francis  Regis,  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  of  St.  Joseph — 
who  supports  them?  who  maintains  them?  Is  it  not 
Christian  youth  inflamed  by  the  greater  love  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  Oh,  the  French  youth !  They  shine  in  the 
nineteenth  century  with  a  double  and  glorious  aureola, 
for  they  have  given  their  heart  to  the  poor  and  their 
blood  to  the  Pope! 

All,  then,  are  warmed:  the  heart  of  the  apostle  and 
the  priest,  the  heart  of  the  virgin  and  the  mother,  the 
heart  of  the  young  man.  All  Christian  hearts  are  now 
beating  in  unison;  and  the  sacred  flame  is  the  flame  of 
immolation  of  sacrifice,  of  love.  In  what  are  they  all 
occupied,  these  young  people,  these  virgins,  these  Chris- 
tion  women,  these  men  of  the  world?  In  visiting  the 
poor,  protecting  children,  consoling  the  afflicted,  spread- 
ing faith  and  hope  in  every  place  in  which  detestable 
doctrines  once  sowed  irritation  and  despair.  Tell  me  of 
some  disease,  and  I  shall  tell  you  what  sacred  battalion 


The  Church  Vivified  in  the  Sacred  Heart.  323 

is  employed  in  tending  and  consoling  the  sufferer.  And 
as  the  old  theologians  taught  that  there  is  in  heaven  for 
each  star  a  choir  of  angels  to  direct. and  inhabit  it,  even 
so  there  is  to-day  for  every  misery  a  choir  of  virgins,  of 
young  men,  or  Christian  women,  charged  to  beguile  it 
into  hope  and  embalm  it  with  charity. 

But  how  greatly  admiration  increases  when  we  behold 
at  the  cost  of  what  sacrifices,  in  what  poverty,  in  spite  of 
what  laws  and  malevolence,  are  established  and  re-estab- 
lished all  those  apostolic  works  of  charity!  Enemies  had. 
sold  all,  proscribed  all,  destroyed  all :  these  champions 
of  Christ  have  redeemed  all,  re-established  all.  If  Louis 
XIV.  could  be  born  again,  he  would  find  nothing  of  his 
old  monarchy.  He  would,  we  may  well  believe,  return 
sad  enough  to  his  royal  tomb,  unwilling  to  live  in  the 
midst  of  a  society  no  longer  known  to  him.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  saintly  Margaret  Mary  should  reappear,  she 
would  behold  nothing  changed  in  the  Church.  "See," 
she  would  say,  "that  holy  Society  of  Jesus,  in  which  I 
found  Pere  de  la  Colombiere,  Pere  Croiset,  Pere  de  Gal- 
lifei,  all  those  venerable  men  who  were  the  first  servers 
and  adorers  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  Behold  them,  those 
pious  Benedictines,  in  the  grand  church  overshadowing 
the  little  convent  of  Paray ;  behold  them  born  again  over 
the  whole  face  of  France,  renewed  and  transformed  in 
Burgundy  by  that  venerable  Pere  Muard  who,  after  re- 
suscitating the  Order  of  St.  Benedict,  to  rewarm  it 
placed  on  his  breast  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus.  Behold 
those  Dominicans — they,  too,  regenerated  by  a  man  who 
was  a  saint  before  being  a  renowned  orator ;  those 
Capuchins,  those  Oratorians,  all  those  religious  men 
and  women ;  all  those  works  that  then  existed,  though 
slightly  languishing.  All  have  found  new  strength, 
power,  youth,  vigor,  such  as  they  never  possessed  in  the 
old  society.  They  have  now  something  that  renders 
them  more  apostolic,  more  able  to  conquer,  more  fruitful, 
more  holily  passionate  for  God  and  for  the  Church." 


324  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

What  rouses  our  greatest  admiration  in  this  renais- 
sance of  Catholic  works  in  the  nineteenth  century  is 
that  all  have  lived  in  misery,  yet  all  have  lived  in  liberty. 

They  have  lived  in  misery !  They  were  robbed  of 
their  wealth,  and  forbidden  to  acquire  more;  they  held 
out  their  hands  to  beg — they  knew  not  to-day  on  what 
they  were  to  subsist  to-morrow :  and  yet  they  lived. 

They  lived  in  liberty !  The  eighteenth  century  pro- 
claimed on  every  possible  key  that  it  was  the  religious 
grates,  the  laws,  and  decisions  of  parliament  that  pro- 
tected vows.  They  said :  "Destroy  the  grates,  repeal 
the  laws,  and  you  will  see  the  religious  life  perish  mis- 
erably." Ah,  well!  The  laws  were  abolished,  parlia- 
ments destroyed  the  grates :  the  inmates  may  now  clear 
them  when  they  please  and  as  the}^  please ;  every  facility 
is  offered  them.  But  never  has  the  religious  life  been 
more  pure,  more  redolent  of  virtue.  Whilst  the  enemies 
of  the  Church  tore  down  the  grates  and  opened  the  con- 
vent doors,  though  without  succeeding  in  making  the 
religious  leave  their  seclusion,  the  Church,  more  daring 
still,  took  the  virgin  from  her  cloister,  and  sent  her  into 
the  cities  and  the  villages,  into  hospitals,  schools,  and 
workshops,  yes,  even  into  prisons.  And  these  religious, 
so  free,  so  identified  with  the  crowd,  do  you  know  what 
kind  of  vows  the  Church  allows  them  to  make?  Very 
simple  ones;  and  the  greater  number  of  them  make 
those  vows  for  only  one  year  at  a  time.  There  is  one 
day  in  every  year,  November  21st,  upon  which  nearly 
one  hundred  thousand  religious  are  free,  for  their  vows 
expired  the  preceding  midnight.  Can  you  imagine  such 
a  spectacle?  One  hundred  thousand  religious  freed 
yearly  to  return  to  the  world,  to  marry  if  it  seems  good 
to  them.  And  yet  the  next  morning,  at  the  Mass  of 
seven  o'clock,  all  voluntarily  and  generously  resume 
the  chains  that  had  fallen  off,  yes,  that  it  was  even  theirs 
to  unbind.     I  ask  the  detractors  of  religious  Orders,  do 


The  Church  Vivified  in  the  Sacred  Heart.   325 

they  know  of  many  oaths  that  could  bear   to  be   sub- 
mitted to  a  similar  test? 

In  the  midst  of  this  vast  display  of  active  love,  this 
grand  multiplication  of  apostolic  works,  contemplation 
suffers  not.  Do  you  know  that  there  are  to-day  more 
Carmelite  convents  than  there  were  in  the  time  of  Louis 
XIV.  ?  Do  you  know  that  the  Visitation  is  as  fervent, 
as  humble,  as  contemplative  as  when  directed  by  St. 
Francis  de  Sales  or  St.  Vincent  de  Paul?  Do  you  know 
that  the  sons  of  St.  Bernard  are  more  numerous,  more 
austere  in  their  Trappist  homes,  than  they  were  in  De 
Ranee's  time?  Do  you  know  that  the  spirit  of  prayer 
has  been  revived  in  families,  among  maidens,  wives, 
mothers,  women  of  the  world?  Do  you  know  that 
self-discipline  has  become  a  part  of  Catholic  morals, 
and  that  there  is  no  day,  no  night,  in  which  a  mul- 
titude of  Christians,  of  husbands,  wives,  and  mothers, 
even  of  young  girls,  do  not  voluntarily  imprint  upon 
themselves  the  bloody  stigmata  of  the  Passion  of 
Jesus  Christ?  Every  day  throws  some  new  light  on 
the  mysteries  of  contemplation  and  penance  buried 
in  the  heart  of  our  own  century.  Only  yesterday  I 
read  an  admirable  book  in  which  the  greatest  Christian 
orator  we  have  had  since  Bossuet,  namely,  Pere  Lacor- 
daire,  was  shown  me  all  wounded  by  penitential  blows. 
Causing  himself,  on  leaving  the  pulpit  of  Notre  Dame, 
to  be  tied  to  a  pillar  and  beaten  with  scourges  until  he 
fainted,  he  equals  and  even  surpasses  the  most  austere 
penitents,  though  still  unable  to  satisfy  the  thirst  for 
immolation  and  sacrifice  that  devoured  him.1  And  yet 
all  is  not  told  of  him  nor  of  others.  When  the  secrets 
of  lives  shall  be  revealed  on  the  last  day,  we  shall  un- 
derstand why  this  age,  so  agitated  and  so  guilty,  has  not 
been  sunk  in  the  depths  of  the  abyss ;  and  we  shall 
bless  the  Church  for  having  redeemed  it  by  forcing  it 
to  suffer  and  to  immolate  itself   for  Christ. 

*Le  P.  Lacordaire,  Sa  Vie  Intime,  par  le  R.  P.  Chocarne.  I  vol. 
octavo. 


326  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque, 

Now,  what  is  the  source  of  all  these  wonders?  Mani- 
festly, all  spring  from  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  known,  adored, 
loved,  casting  its  beneficent  rays  over  the  whole  world. 
The  old  fear  has  departed,  the  cold  breath  of  Jansenism 
has  vanished;  under  the  fire  of  love,  the  ice  has  every- 
where melted.  The  holy  table  is  more  frequented ; 
daily  is  the  Lord  more  tenderly  received,  and  by  a 
greater  number.  This  is  the  hidden  source,  the  well- 
spring  of  all  these  marvels.  It  is  thence  comes  to  the 
Church  of  the  nineteenth  century  her  beauty,  her  fruit- 
fulness,  her  invincible  strength.  The  Heart  of  Jesus 
has  darted  its  rays  upon  her.  It  has  vivified  her, 
warmed  her,  transfigured  her,  and  rendered  her  all 
beautiful.  And  here  we  behold  Margaret  Mary's  great 
miracle.  She  knew  it  in  advance,  she  predicted  it,  she 
trembled  with  joy  at  the  thought  of  it.  In  her  humility, 
she  asked  to  die  that  she  might  not  be  an  obstacle  to  it, 
that  she  might  not  for  one  moment  delay  the  glorifica- 
tion of  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  the  universal  rekindling 
of  love  in  hearts.  It  was  this  movement  daily  becoming 
more  brilliant  and  more  irresistible  that  pleaded  her 
cause  at  Rome,  and  advanced  it  in  spite  of  a  thousand 
obstacles. 

From  the  departure  of  the  Apostolic  Notaries  for 
Paray  in  1830,  forty  years  were  necessary  to  examine 
the  virtues  and  writings  of  the  saintly  Sister.  Every- 
thing was  analyzed,  studied,  and  discussed  with  that 
exactitude,  that  maturity,  which  characterizes  the  irre- 
vocable acts  of  the  Roman  court.  The  Congregation 
of  Rites  had  just  pronounced  favorably  on  the  hero- 
icity  of  our  saint's  virtues,  when  Gregory  XVI.  died, 
leaving  to  Pius  IX.  the  glory  and  joy  of  proclaiming 
them.  It  was  one  of  the  first  acts  of  his  illustrious  pon- 
tificate. Scarcely  seated  on  the  Chair  of  St.  Peter,  Pius 
IX.  raised  his  eyes  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus ;  and  one  morn- 
ing in  the  month  of  July,  1846,  saw  him  going  on  foot 
to  the  Quirinal,  to  the  Visitation,  there  to  say  Mass,  and 


Beatification  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary.  327 

to  announce  to  the  Sisters,  trembling  with  emotion,  that 
the  hour  was  come  to  promote,  at  one  and  the  same  time, 
devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  and  the  glory  of  its  servant. 
The  decree  appeared,  in  the  month  following,  August  23, 
1846,  during  the  octave  of  the  feast  of  St.  Chantal,  the 
foundress  of  the  Visitation.  A  delicate  thought  had  de- 
cided the  choice  of  this  day,  and  it  again  brought  the 
Pope  into  the  midst  of  the  daughters  of  St.  Francis  de 
Sales,  to  break  to  them  the  happy  news  of  the  future 
glorification  of  their  holy  Sister. 

All  was  now  thought  to  be  ended.  Alas !  twenty- 
four  years  were  still  to  elapse  before  the  last  and  solemn 
Decree  of  Beatification,  April  24,  1864.  The  delay  had, 
however,  no  other  effect  than  to  excite  the  impatience  of 
the  Christian  people,  and  to  prepare  for  Margaret  Mary 
a  triumph  worthy  of  her. 

It  began  at  Paray  by  a  new  opening  of  the  tomb,  with  a 
view  to  recognize  definitely  the  holy  relics.  They  were 
not  to  be  returned  to  their  resting-place,  and  from  them 
was  to  be  taken  the  special  relic  which,  on  the  altar  of 
St.  Peter,  was  to  receive  the  first  homage  of  the  Pope 
and  the  Church.  Although  very  private,  this  opening 
of  the  tomb  had  in  it  something  triumphal ;  for  no 
public  demonstrations  of  joy  and  devotion  were  as  yet 
permitted.  But  the  humble  cloister  in  which  Margaret 
rested,  and  in  which  her  feast  was  to  be  celebrated,  saw 
its  poor  walls  hidden  under  ornamentation  the  most 
brilliant.  Oriflambs,  escutcheons,  pictures,  devices  in 
verse  .and  prose,  everywhere  met  the  gaze.  All  was 
bright,  elegant,  devout,  and  pleasing.  All  was  like  unto 
the  spirit  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales ;  and,  let  us  add, — for 
this  was  what  touched  us  most, — all  was  in  a  high  degree 
Catholic  and  French.  In  the  solitude  of  the  little  con- 
vent, shut  in  on  all  sides,  whose  inmates  the  votaries  of 
the  world  imagined  knew  only  how  to  raise  toward  heaven 
an  egotistical  eye,  was  felt  the  great  soul  of  France  pal- 
pitating, of  that  France  which  had  not  abdicated  her 


328  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

baptism  and  which,  in  the  midst  of  all  her  sadness  and 
misfortunes,  still  hoped  on.  The  oriflambs  streaming 
from  the  windows  all  along  the  galleries  were  ablaze 
with  emblems  and  devices;  loud  cries  of  love  for  the 
Church  and  the  Holy  Father,  for  France  and  Paray,  for 
the  whole  nation,  cries  of  love  for  their  home  in  heaven 
and  for  that  of  earth,  united  on  all  the  escutcheons  as 
they  did  in  all  hearts. 

Mgr.  de  Marguerie,  Bishop  of  Autun,  who  had  taken 
the  most  pious  and  intelligent  interest  in  the  cause  of 
the  Beatification,  presided  at  this  private  ceremony. 
After  forming  a  jury  for  the  recognition  of  the  relics, 
and  receiving  the  oath  on  the  holy  Gospels  of  all  about 
to  help  at  the  opening  of  the  coffin,  priests,  physicians, 
workmen,  he  went  to  the  humble  tomb  containing  the 
remains  of  the  venerable  Sister.  They  were  laid  in  one 
of  the  corners  of  the  cloister,  under  a  simple  stone,  upon 
which  was  inscribed  merely  her  name.  As  if  to  make 
amends  for  its  poverty,  there  were  seen  all  around  on 
the  wall  hearts  of  gold  or  silver  suspended  as  tokens  of 
the  veneration  that  embalmed  her  memory,  and  the 
favors  obtained  by  her  intercession.  The  tombstone 
being  carefully  raised,  in  an  excavation  sufficiently 
deep  was  disclosed  the  wooden  coffin  that  contained 
the  bones  of  the  saintly  Sister.  Without  opening  it, 
and  after  having  permitted  some  few  to  kiss  it,  a  rich 
pall  was  thrown  over  it,  and  the  honor  of  carrying  it 
was  left  to  the  tender  and  loving  hands  of  her  Sisters. 
It  was  borne  processionally  through  the  cloister  to  the 
room  in  which  the  relics  were  to  be  examined.  The 
Visitandines,  with  lighted  tapers,  and  chanting  the 
Office  of  Virgins,  walked  before  the  casket ;  and  over 
three  hundred  priests,  accompanied  by  the  chief  magis- 
trates and  inhabitants  of  the  city,  followed  the  holy 
relics  in  silence.  The  countenance  of  all,  recollected  or 
beaming  with  joy,  proclaimed  better  than  words  the 
sentiments  that  filled  their  heart. 


Beatification  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary.   329 

Thus  came  forth  from  her  tomb,  never  again  to  enter 
it,  this  illustrious  virgin  of  God !  Thus,  after  two  cen- 
turies, did  she  traverse  again,  in  triumphant  recollection, 
and  hidden  as  was  her  life,  those  cloisters  that  she  had 
once  filled  with  the  perfume  of  her  humility!  In  spite 
of  a  revolution  that  had  crushed  empires  and  scattered 
royal  races,  the  religious  of  the  Visitation  were  still 
there  to  form  the  cortege,  to  carry  their  Sister's  blessed 
remains,  to  make  glad  her  path  by  their  songs  of  joy, 
their  prayers,  and  their  tears ! 

Arrived  at  the  assembly-room,  the  procession  paused, 
and  all  bowed  low  in  veneration  of  the  precious  wood 
that  inclosed  the  virginal  body  of  one  of  the  purest  of 
God's  creatures.  Then  they  opened  the  coffin  and  ex- 
posed to  view  all  that  remained  in  this  world  of  her  to 
whom  our  Lord  had  so  frequently  appeared.  Admirable 
fact !  Skeletons  inspire  horror,  but  not  so  those  of  the 
saints.  The  mouldering  bones,  the  shreds  of  flesh 
gone  to  dust  found  in  the  depths  of  a  tomb  and  for 
which  no  language  has  a  name,  whether  once  animated 
by  a  mighty  genius,  whether  once  transfigured  by  glory 
and  beauty, — all  creates  fear.  But  if  the  love  of  God, 
the  heroism  of  sanctity,  cling  around  those  remains, 
behold,  they  live  forever !  To  touch  them,  to  kiss 
them,  was  the  desire  of  the  crowd.  It  was  actually 
necessary  to  drive  them  from  the  church,  to  prevent 
their  throwing  themselves  on  the  sacred  body,  pressing 
to  it  their  lips,  and  distributing  its  remains.  Death 
was  conquered,  and  life  was  felt  triumphantly  circulat- 
ing through  the  dry  bones. 

During  the  examination  and  veneration  of  the  relics 
occurred  one  most  impressive  moment.  Deep  anxiety 
filled  all  hearts.  The  head,  which  up  to  1830  had  been 
preserved  from  corruption, — in  what  state  would  it  now 
be  found?  Would  God  allow  a  sign  of  life  still  to  reside 
in  the  dry  bones?  The  bishop  raised  the  cranium. 
Behold  the  august  sign!     Vainly  had  the  past  thirty- 


2>2)0  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

four  years  rolled  by  !  Vainly  had  the  casket  been 
opened  and  the  head  exposed  to  the  air  !  It  has  con- 
tinued the  same,  intact,  living1!  We  prostrate,  we  ad- 
mire, we  adore  !  We  relate  analogous  facts,  and  all 
hearts  beat  with  holy  enthusiasm.  When,  for  example, 
Mary  Magdalen  died,  and  time  had  gradually  dried  up 
all  her  bones,  there  was  in  her,  also,  a  morsel  of  flesh 
that  resisted  corruption.  It  was  that  which  the  Lord 
had  touched  when  she  approached  Him  after  His  resur- 
rection. With  the  words,  "  Noli  me  tangere,"  He  laid 
His  finger  on  her  forehead  to  keep  her  at  a  distance. 
Twelve  hundred  years  after,  on  that  spot  of  the  fore- 
head, the  flesh  appeared  quick  and  living,  as  if  to  show 
us  human  flesh,  even  the  most  profaned,  after  the  trans- 
figuring finger  of  God  has  touched  it  to  purify  it.  In 
like  manner,  when  St.  John  Nepomucene  was  martyred 
for  not  revealing  the  secrets  of  the  confessional,  his 
tongue  was  spared,  although  his  whole  body  had  become 
the  prey  of  death.  Three  hundred  years  after  his 
death,  it  was  found  fresh  and  living,  an  eternal  witness 
to  the  divinity  of  the  confessional.  Again,  when  St. 
Chantal  died,  nothing  could  dry  up  her  heart.  It  still 
seemed  to  live.  At  certain  moments  it  was  seen  to 
swell  with  sorrow  or  love,  as  if  to  teach  the  world  not 
to  doubt  the  ardor  with  which  it  beat  when  living.  In 
Margaret  Mary's  case  it  was  the  head  that  resisted 
death,  because  it  was  of  the  head  the  world  doubted. 
God  preserved  it  intact,  in  order  to  render  venerable 
the  thoughts  that  emanated  from  it.  Let  us  add  faith 
in  the  sublime  inventions  of  which  it  was  the  organ. 

Ah  !  long  years  must  pass  before  we  shall  forget  our 
emotion  when  the  head  of  Margaret  Mary,  entire  and 
intact,  was  given  us  to  hold  in  our  hands.  We  were 
almost  alone,  for  the  crowd  had  been  forced  to  retire, 
that  the  physicians  might  have  more  liberty  to  recog- 
nize the  relics,  to  contemplate  at  leisure  what  remained 
of  her  body,  and  in  that  study  to  form  some  conjecture 


Beatification  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary.   331 

of  what  the  holy  soul  had  been.  Those  delicate  bones, 
those  well-proportioned  curves,  the  beauty  of  the  fore- 
head, the  breadth  of  the  temples,  the  incorruptibility 
of  the  cranium,  the  fine  lines  of  the  face, — all  these  re- 
mains of  the  mortal  vase  that  once  inclosed  so  beautiful 
a  soul  afforded  us,  as  it  were,  a  glimpse  of  the  saint 
such  it  might  seem  she  was  two  hundred  years  ago,  in 
the  days  of  her  earthly  pilgrimage.  She  was  of  medium 
height,  though  rather  tall  than  short,  of  a  fragile  and 
delicate  constitution,  as  God  makes  souls  whom  He  has 
destined  for  great  sufferings  ;  of  exquisite  sensibility,  as 
is  fitting  to  those  who  are  to  love  much.  She  added  to 
this  great  intelligence,  perfect  good  sense,  judgment 
proof  against  every  species  of  delusion,  as  was  requisite 
in  order  not  to  mingle  the  imagination  and  human 
ideas  with  what  God  deigned  to  reveal  to  her.  To  com- 
plete the  picture,  she  was  possessed  of  a  gentle  but  un- 
shaken will  ;  a  soul  patient  but  immovable,  which 
recoiled  before  no  opposition  ;  of  love  so  ardent  and 
such  power  of  devotedness  that  no  sacrifice  could  ever 
satisfy.  She  possessed,  moreover,  elevation  and  deli- 
cacy of  sentiment,  and  a  depth  of  heart  which  rendered 
her  capable  of  understanding  the  Heart  of  her  Divine 
Master,  of  divining  its  sublime  inventions,  of  presenting 
them  to  a  cold  and  railing  world,  and  of  leading  it  to 
their  acceptance  in  preparation  for  its  own  regeneration. 
Behold  the  illustrious  Margaret  Mary,  such  as  her 
soul  appeared  to  us  whilst,  with  respectful  hand  and 
agitated  heart,  we  replaced  one  by  one  in  a  rich  casket 
of  silver-gilt  the  remains  of  her  virginal  body  !  That 
done,  the  religious  again  took  it  up  joyously,  and  we 
carried  it  in  triumph  to  the  interior  choir,  where  it  was 
placed  on  the  throne  prepared  for  it.  Above  it  were 
two  figures  of  angels  holding  a  virgin's  crown.  There 
the  precious  relics  were  to  remain  until  the  solemn  day 
Df  Beatification,  which  took  place  in  Rome,  September 
I,  1864.     From  early  dawn  on  that  memorable  day,  the 


332  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

cannon  of  St.  Angelo  announced  in  joyous  boomings 
that  the  lover  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus  was  about  to  be 
proclaimed  Blessed.  On  the  evening  of  the  same  day, 
Pius  IX.,  attended  by  a  numerous  cortege,  in  which  we 
remarked  over  two  hundred  French  priests,  knelt  be- 
fore her  picture.  The  bishop  of  the  diocese  to  which 
the  saintly  Sister  belonged  approached  the  Father  of 
the  Faithful  and,  together  with  his  allegiance  and  that 
of  the  Church  of  France,  offered  him  some  simple  gifts, 
among  them  a  bouquet  of  flowers,  emblematic  of  the 
virtues  that  his  diocese  had  seen  flourish  in  the  humble 
Visitandine  parterre  of  Paray,  and  whose  perfume  was 
now  about  to  embalm  the  whole  Church.  The  year 
following,  the  feast  of  the  Beatification  was  celebrated 
in  every  convent  of  the  Visitation.  At  Paray  it  lasted 
three  days  with  extraordinary  brilliancy,  over  a  hundred 
thousand  persons  being  in  attendance.  His  Eminence 
the  Cardinal-Archbishop  of  Besancon  presided,  assisted 
by  the  prelates  of  Autun,  Bourges,  Dijon,  Nimes, 
Evreux,  Annecy,  and  Hebron  ;  the  mitred  abbots  of 
Sept-Fonds,  d'Aiguebelles,  of  Mount  Olives,  of  Sainte- 
Marie-du-Mont,  of  Grace-de-Dieu  ;  over  four  hundred 
priests  and  a  multitude  of  religious  belonging  to  vari- 
ous Orders.  The  holy  relics  were  removed  from  their 
humble  wooden  casket  and  placed  in  a  magnificent  one 
of  silver-gilt  set  with  precious  stones,  amethysts,  and 
topaz,  and  enamelled  in  the  style  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
For  three  days  the  relics  were  carried  in  triumph  through 
the  parish  streets  of  Paray,  on  the  shoulders  of  twenty- 
four  priests  robed  in  dalmatics.  Nothing  could  exceed 
the  beauty  of  these  processions,  which  recalled  the 
splendor  of  those  of  the  Middle  Ages.  But  what 
would  be  still  more  difficult  to  describe  is  their  trium- 
phal character,  the  joy  depicted  on  all  faces,  the  enthu- 
siasm that  swelled  all  hearts.  One  felt  himself  at  the 
last  act  of  a  sublime  drama,  of  which  he  recalled  the 
humble  beginning  and  the  sorrowful  progress  with  its 


Beatification  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary.   333 

hard  trials.  We  now  touch  as  with  the  hand  the  mag- 
nificent denouement.  God's  promises  were  then  re- 
alized. The  Church  of  France  was  there  before  the 
eyes  of  all,  living,  fervent,  rejuvenated,  warmed  by  the 
beams  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  Margaret  Mary  ascended 
the  altars.  The  Heart  of  Jesus  reigned,  in  spite  of  all 
its  enemies,  and  illumined  the  wide  world. 

After  three  days  of  holy  inebriation,  the  virginal  body 
was  carried  again  into  the  chapel  of  the  Visitation. 
There  our  humble  Margaret  Mary  now  rests.  They 
have  laid  her  in  a  splendid  casket  beneath  the  white 
marble  altar,  under  the  very  spot  upon  which  our  Lord 
appeared  to  her.  Fifty-three  lamps  cast  their  radiant 
light  upon  this  altar,  now  become  a  sepulchre.  They 
burn  day  and  night  in  honor  of  the  Divine  Spouse  and 
His  humble  servant.  The  pilgrim  on  his  arrival  pauses, 
involuntarily  moved.  The  sweet  mysteries  accomplished 
in  this  place  :  on  the  one  side,  virginity,  tenderness, 
thirst  for  immolation,  heavenly  detachment  ;  on  the 
other,  condescension,  mercy,  infinite  love  ;  and  the 
divine  effects,  touching  and  sublime,  of  the  drama 
enacted  on  this  altar, — all  that  speaks  to  the  soul.  He 
forgets  himself  for  hours  in  mute  contemplation. 
There  have  been  places  more  highly  venerated  on  this 
earth,  but  there  are  very  few  more  august  or  more 
sweet. 


334  Lift  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

UNEXPECTED  AND  MARVELLOUS  SPREAD  OF  DEVO- 
TION TO  THE  HEART  OF  JESUS  AMID  THE  MISFOR- 
TUNES OF  FRANCE— THE  SECOND  PART  OF  THE 
MISSION  CONFIDED  TO  SAINT  MARGARET  MARY 
APPROACHES  ITS  ACCOMPLISHMENT. 

1870-1874. 

Abner.  "The  holy  Ark  is  silent  and  gives  no  more  oracles." 
Joad.       "  Ah!  what  time  was  ever  more  fruitful  in  miracles-! 
Shall  we,  then,  always  have  eyes  and  see  not  ?" 

Racine,  ' ' A thalie. ' ' 

'HE  first  part  of  the  mission  confided  to  Saint 
Margaret  Mary  was  ended,  but  not  so  the  second. 
The  words  spoken  for  the  Pope  and  the  Church 
had  been  realized;  those  spoken  for  the  king  and 
France  had  been  despised.  Neither  Louis  XIV.  nor 
Louis  XV.  had  deigned  to  notice  them;  and  the  lamenta- 
tions of  the  captive  Louis  XVI.  were  drowned  in  the 
blasphemies  of  the  Revolution.  Thus,  whilst  the  Church 
in  France  opened  to  the  nineteenth  century  under  the 
sweet  and  genial  rays  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  pro- 
duced unrelaxingly  and  unwearingly  the  most  savory 
fruits  of  faith,  charity,  and  purity,  of  the  apostolate  and 
of  martyrdom,  society,  civil  and  political,  strayed  further 
and  further  toward  destruction.  In  vain  had  God 
given  France  of  the  nineteenth  century  gifts  the  most 
beautiful:  gifts  of  genius,  eloquence,  science,  glory;  gifts 
greater  than  at  any  other  epoch.  Like  a  sick  man  re- 
fusing the  only  remedy  that  contains  a  cure  for  him, 
she  saw  her  evils  increase  every  day.  Torn  by  a  Utopian 
and  impious  revolution  from  her  old  national  and 
Christian  constitutions,  fruit  of  the  experience  of  fifteen 


Spread  of  Devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.  335 

centuries,  she  has  since  been  unable  to  find  her  centre. 
She  has  tried  in  turn  the  republic,  the  empire,  and  con- 
stitutional royalty.  She  returned  to  the  republic,  then 
to  the  empire,  and  back  again  to  the  republic.  Ever 
agitated,  disquieted,  and  ill  at  ease,  she  finally  went  so 
far  as  to  abandon  all  her  constitutions,  and,  not  know- 
ing which  to  choose,  she  ended  in  a  futile  attempt  to 
rest  on  the  provisional  pillow,  thus  showing  to  the  world 
in  her  own  person  the  greatest  political  incapacity  yet 
recorded  in  history. 

At  the  same  time  France  felt  in  her  bosom  the  mut- 
terings  of  most  awful  passions.  Shamefully  hidden  in 
the  folds  of  guilty  hearts  were  pride,  envy,  covetous- 
ness.  Kept  in  check  hitherto  by  the  power  of  Christian 
conscience,  they  now  publicly  showed  themselves, 
united,  and  became  an  army.  The  cannon  of  civil  war, 
unheard  in  France  since  the  time  of  Henry  IV.,  which 
had  sounded  neither  in  the  seventeenth  nor  even  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  began  to  boom  in  the  nineteenth. 
During  three  days  of  1830,  at  two  different  intervals  of 
'48,  and  for  six  whole  months  in  '70, its  ominous  tones  burst 
forth.  Every  fifteen  years  the  fratricidal  war  assumed 
vaster  and  more  odious  proportions,  whilst  opulent 
France  danced  on  the  volcano  and  stirred  its  flames. 
Her  great  writers,  Lamartine,  Thiers,  Michelet,  Victor 
Hugo,  glorified  Robespierre,  acquitted  Marat,  palliated 
Louis  XVI. 's  execution,  and  even  hailed  it  as  a  grand, 
patriotic  act.  Her  savants  employed  their  learning, 
their  discoveries,  and  even  the  resources  of  the  state  to 
assert  that  there  is  no  God,  no  soul,  no  living  and  im- 
mortal mind;  that  all  will  one  day  be  reduced  to  vile 
matter;  and  that  the  ideas  of  vice,  virtue,  liberty,  respon- 
sibility, are  good  old  words,  but,  like  those  that  taught 
them  to  us,  worthy  only  of  contempt.  Her  industries, 
her  great  proprietors,  the  directors  of  her  public  works, 
neglected  no  means  to  snatch  God  and  every  idea  of 
religion  from  the  heart  of  the  mechanic,  the  laborer,  and 


32)6  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

the  poor.  Ah,  that  was  not  the  most  excellent  means 
to  render  them  upright,  honest,  chaste,  and  religious  ob- 
servers of  the  rights  and  property  of  others!  The  poets, 
the  novelists,  the  dramatists  of  France  labored  day  and 
night  to  make  the  theatre  a  hell.  Her  high-born  ladies 
seemed  to  regret  the  happy  days  of  Mme.  de  Montespan, 
of  Mme.  de  Pompadour,  of  Mme.  du  Barry;  and,  no 
longer  having  under  their  eyes  models  so  illustrious, 
they  set  to  work  to  imitate  the  allurements,  the  cos- 
tumes, the  walk,  even  the  language  of  their  sisters  of 
the  demi-monde.  Morals  became  corrupted,  minds  ob- 
scured, character  weakened,  health  destroyed;  physical 
and  moral  deformity  invaded  every  circle.  Meanwhile 
our  grave  statesmen  were  occupied  only  in  watching 
that  God  and  religion  might  not  gain  too  much  influ- 
ence. 

Then  came  the  barbarians!     Their  hour  sounded. 

History  will  long  record  their  deeds,  though  not 
knowing  how  to  describe  the  Queen  of  Nations,  accus- 
tomed to  conquer,  always  victorious,  rising  twenty  times 
to  a  degree  of  heroism  that  her  conquerors  had  never 
known,  and  yet  falling  as  often  into  the  dust.  Her 
counsels  were  reversed,  her  chiefs  paralyzed;  the  very 
elements  turned  against  her,  the  better  to  mark  whence 
came  defeat.  In  seven  months  of  struggle  France 
found  again  neither  one  flash  of  her  genius  nor  one  ray 
of  her  happiness. 

As  everything  connected  with  this  nation  must  be  ex- 
traordinary, so,  too,  with  her  misfortunes.  At  the  close 
of  this  fearful  war,  when  the  sword  should  have  been 
sheathed,  behold  Paris  suddenly  fired  with  fratricidal 
flames!  Our  monuments,  our  palaces,  our  libraries,  our 
museums  destroyed  by  French  hands!  Bands  of  savage 
beasts  in  human  form,  by  the  glare  of  the  incendiary, 
pillaged  and  profaned  her  churches,  shot  her  bishops, 
priests,  magistrates,  and  soldiers;  and  on  the  heights 
bordering    upon    Mont  Valerien    Vanves,   Saint-Denis, 


Spread  of  Devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.   $$J 

behold  the  long-sighted  Prussians  clapping  their  hands 
at  seeing  in  flames  the  magnificent  city  that  had  resisted 
all  their  assaults  !  This  is  what  history  shall  long  con- 
template, and,  as  in  another  Rome,  recognize  in  it  the 
finger  of  God. 

But  soon  from  this  scene  of  grandeur,  already  so 
tragical,  it  will  rise  to  a  spectacle  still  higher  and  more 
solemn.  France,  conquered,  wounded,  laid  low  on 
twenty  battle-fields,  will  be  seen  to  divide  into  two  king- 
doms :  one  frivolous  and  always  full  of  self,  seeking  in 
political  combinations,  in  recriminations  and  condemna- 
tions, if  not  a  remedy,  at  least  a  solace  for  her  evils,  and 
trying  to  prove  that  she  is  not  guilty;  the  other,  striking 
her  breast,  asks  pardon,  raises  her  eyes  to  heaven,  and 
to  be  more  sure  of  averting  God's  anger,  instead  of  kiss- 
ing His  feet  and  bedewing  them  with  tears,  rises  higher, 
even  to  His  Heart. 

Admirable  thing!  This  recourse  to  the  Heart  of 
Jesus,  which  in  1793  was  spontaneously  and  as  if  in- 
stinctively offered  to  the  victims,  is  also  presented  in 
1870  to  the  vanquished.  This  thought  that  slept  for 
sixty  years  in  the  heart  of  France,  is  awakened  by  the 
bloody  glare  of  her  simultaneous  defeats  at  so  many 
points,  and  with  so  little  opposition  that  it  is  impossible 
not  to  see  in  it  the  hand  of  God.  He  is  a  good  and 
tender  Father  who  recalls  to  His  sick  child  the  thought 
of  the  grand  remedy. 

The  first  fact  that  we  are  going  to  relate  will  alone 
suffice  to  show  the  merciful  hand  of  God.  Toward  the 
close  of  1870,  at  the  time  in  which  all  our  regular  army 
was  paralyzed  or  destroyed  under  the  walls  of  Metz  and 
Paris,  bands  of  volunteers  were  seen  to  rise  at  the  same 
time  in  a  thousand  places.  They  were  called  by  differ- 
ent names,  and  they  bore  different  standards;  but  what 
of  that  ?  The  hour  of  exclusiveness  was  past.  The 
appeal  to  voluntary  sacrifice  was  general;  and  the  Pon- 
tifical Zouaves  were  the   first   to  offer  their  swords  to 


338  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

France.  The  Vendeans  arose  under  Cathelineau;  the 
Bretons  organized  as  skirmishers;  and,  without  prelimi- 
nary or  preamble,  the  various  troops'  placed  on  their 
breasts  the  badge  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus:  those,  because 
it  was  the  emblem  that  Pius  IX.  had  blest  and  given 
them  at  Mentana;  and  these,  too,  in  memory  of  their 
fathers,  Henri  de  la  Rochejaquelein,  Lescure,  Bon- 
champs,  Charette;  and  all  in  remembrance  of  the  con- 
soling and  prophetic  revelations  of  Paray.  The  sequel 
will  show  whether  or  not  the  Heart  of  Jesus  on  the  sol- 
dier's heart  made  him  fight  less  valiantly. 

Some  days  after,  on  a  cold  night,  December  1,  1870, 
two  superior  officers  turned  their  steps  toward  Paray, 
whither  they  were  going  to  spend  the  next  day  in 
amusement  before  setting  out  from  France.  One  was 
General  de  Sonis,  commandant  of  the  17th  corps  of  the 
army;  the  other,  Colonel  de  Charette,  who  was  at  the  head 
of  the  Zouaves.  Both  were  deeply  impressed  with  the 
gravity  of  the  times  through  which  they  were  passing, 
and  the  evident  fact  that,  without  the  manifest  assist- 
ance of  God,  all  was  over  with  France.  The  cold  was 
intense.  It  was  impossible  to  proceed  on  horseback; 
therefore  the  General  and  the  Colonel  dismounted,  and 
continued  their  journey  on  foot.  Whilst  walking  along, 
the  General  expressed  his  regret  to  Colonel  Charette  at 
not  seeing  on  his  own  banner  an  emblem  more  religiously 
characteristic.  "General,"  replied  the  Colonel,  "lean 
give  you  what  you  desire."  Then  he  told  the  General 
that  the  same  day  on  which  he  had  received  authoriza- 
tion from  the  French  Government  to  fight  along  with 
the  Zouaves,  on  condition  that  they  should  take  the  title 
of  "  Western  Volunteers,"  there  had  arrived  from  a  dis- 
tance a  flag  on  which  was  painted  the  Sacred  Heart. 
It  had  come  under  this  address:  "To  the  Defenders  of 
the  West."  He  learned  later  that  the  banner  had  been  em- 
broidered at  Paray  by  the  religious;  that  it  was  sent 
first  to  Paris  and  then  to  Tours,  with  the  request  that  it 


Spread  of  Devotion  to  the  Heart  of  Jesus.   339 

should  appear  on  the  battle-field.  General  de  Sonis  re- 
garded it  as  an  inspiration  of  God,  and  the  banner  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  was  immediately  chosen  as  the  laba- 
rum,  the  oriflamb,  of  the  Zouaves.  To  prevent  opposi- 
tion, it  was  decided  not  to  unfurl  it  until  it  could  receive 
the  baptism  of  fire;  and  that  France  should  see  it  only 
when  it  would  be,  so  to  say,  tinged  with  French  blood. 
They  felt  sure  that,  after  the  battle,  this  banner,  victori- 
ous or  conquered,  would  command  such  respect  that  no 
French  army  would  allow  it  to  pass  without  inclining  to 
it  their  swords. 

The  next  day,  December  2,  1870,  first  Friday  of  the 
month,  a  day  consecrated  to  the  Sacred  Heart,  Mass 
was  celebrated  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Gen- 
eral de  Sonis,  Colonel  de  Charette,  the  greater  part  of 
the  officers,  and  a  number  of  soldiers  approached  the 
holy  table,  to  learn  from  the  Heart  of  Jesus  how  to 
suffer,  how  to  sacrifice  themselves.  The  battle  began 
at  once,  and,  in  spite  of  numerical  disproportion,  re- 
mained undecided  until  half-past  two  in  the  afternoon. 
The  enemies'  reinforcements  continued  to  pour  in,  and  it 
was  easy  to  foresee  the  moment  in  which,  without  some 
heroic  and  successful  effort,  the  Zouaves  would  be 
obliged  to  retreat.  General  Sonis  took  his  resolution. 
Gathering  together  a  column  for  attack,  he  tried  to 
hurl  it  upon  the  village  de  Loigny;  but  two  of  the  regi- 
ments threw  themselves  on  the  ground  and  refused  to 
advance.  At  this  juncture,  the  General  hesitated  no 
longer.  Pressing  forward  with  his  Zouaves,  he  cried: 
"  Gentlemen,  behold  the  hour  to  show  that  you  know 
how  to  conduct  yourselves  as  Frenchmen  and  Chris- 
tians !  Forward!"  An  enthusiastic  cry  was  the  only 
response.  Sergeant  Henri  de  Verthamon  at  the  head 
of  his  battalion  darted  forward  fifty  steps,  and  displayed 
the  standard  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  All  rushed  after  him 
with  the  cry:  "  Long  live  Pius  IX.!  Long  live  France  !" 
A  considerable  distance  had  to  be  cleared  under  a  fear- 


34°  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

ful  discharge  of  musketry.  The  Zouaves,  without  one 
shot,  crossed  bravely  and  in  good  order.  Arrived  in 
front  of  the  little  wood,  they  opened  fire,  presented 
bayonets,  tore  up  the  wood,  gave  chase  to  the  Ger- 
mans, reached  the  village,  amid  a  cloud,  not  of  i?ice?ise, 
but  of  powder,  and  placed  in  position  the  banner  of  the 
Sacred  Heart. 

The  enemy,  now  perceiving  the  smallness  of  the  num- 
ber by  which  they  had  been  routed,  in  surprise  called 
forth  their  reserve.  The  masses  ranged.  After  astonish- 
ing the  Prussians  by  their  assault,  they  were  now  going 
to  astonish  them  by  their  heroism  Generals  de  Cha- 
rette,  de  Sonis,  Troussures  fell  at  the  side  of  the  banner 
of  the  Sacred  Heart,  become  the  target  of  all  projectiles. 
De  Verthamon,  who  held  it,  died  purpling  it  with  his 
blood.  Count  de  Bouille  instantly  raised  it  again.  He, 
too,  was  soon  struck  with  death.  He  passed  it  to  his 
son,  Count  James  de  Bouille,  who,  after  bearing  it  aloft 
for  some  time,  fell  in  his  turn.  Parment,  who  succeeded 
him,  had  his  hand  broken.  He  was,  consequently, 
obliged  to  relinquish  the  sacred  standard,  now  stained 
with  blood  and  rent  in  several  places,  to  Sergeant  Lan- 
deau.  Most  of  the  Zouaves  were  conquered  where  they 
wished  to  die.  They  fell  in  the  Heart  of  Jesus,  and 
their  death  shed  on  the  battle-field  a  ray  of  pure  glory 
like  unto  that  of  the  Crusades. 

Next  day  Orleans  was  taken,  and  the  remnant  of  the 
Zouaves  went  to  be  hacked  to  pieces  at  Manns,  in  order 
to  cover  the  retreat  of  Chanzy.  Five  months  later 
Paris  surrendered,  the  war  was  over,  and  the  Zouaves 
free.  Before  separating  they  wished  to  take  leave  of 
their  banner,  to  offer  it  supreme  ovation,  and  accomplish 
an  action  suggested  by  the  events  that  had  just  tran- 
spired. 

They  met  in  a  church  at  Rennes.  There  during  the 
Holy  Sacrifice,  at  the  moment  of  holy  Communion,  the 
banner  of  the  Sacred  Heart  was   solemnly  borne  in  and 


The  Second  Part  of  Margaret's  Mission.   341 

placed  at  the  foot  of  the  altar.  General  de  Charette 
and  his  officers  grouped  around  it.  The  almoner-in- 
chief,  Mgr.  Daniel,  read  on  his  knees  an  Act  of  Conse- 
cration to  the  Sacred  Heart,  composed  and  sent  by 
General  Sonis,  who  was  detained  at  a  distance  by  his 
wound.  After  that  General  de  Charette  pronounced  in 
a  sonorous  voice  the  following  words:  "  Under  the 
shadow  of  this  flag  stained  with  the  blood  of  our  dear- 
est victims,  I,  General  Baron  de  Charette,  who  had  the 
signal  honor  of  commanding  you,  consecrate  the  legion 
of  the  Western  Volunteers,  the  Pontifical  Zouaves,  to 
the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus;  and  with  my  soldierly  faith, 
I  say  with  all  my  soul,  and  I  ask  you  all  to  say  with  me: 
'Heart  of  Jesus,  save  France!'"  A  unanimous  cry, 
spontaneous,  awe-inspiring,  responded:  lt  Heart  of  Jesus, 
save  France!" 

Thus  ended  this  heroic  episode  of  our  sad  war.  It 
was  only  the  second  time  since  the  oriflamb  of  the  Cru- 
sades that  a  religious  flag  had  appeared  on  the  battle- 
field. The  first  had  been  carried  by  Joan  of  Arc  ;  the 
second  by  the  Pontifical  Zouaves. 

Whilst  these  things  were  passing  on  the  battle-field, 
and  in  a  manner  so  wonderful,  though  so  little  foreseen, 
the  words  of  the  Lord  to  Margaret  Mary,  "  I  desire 
that  the  image  of  My  Heart  be  engraven  on  the  French 
standard,"  were  being  accomplished,  another  word  of 
the  Lord  was  realized  still  more  unexpectedly.  In  the 
midst  of  Paris,  then  occupied  by  the  Prussians  and 
isolated  from  the  rest  of  France,  some  pious  and  emi- 
nent laics  were  recounting  their  country's  misfortunes 
and  seeking  for  means  to  come  to  its  assistance.  Sud- 
denly they  were  inspired  to  make  a  solemn  vow  to  erect 
in  the  heart  of  Paris  a  church  consecrated  to  the  Heart 
of  Jesus.  The  vow  was  drawn  up  in  due  form.  In  it 
are  read  these  words: 

"  In  view  of  the   misfortunes   that  are  now  afflicting 


342  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

France,  and  of  the  still  greater  evils  that  perhaps  yet 
threaten  her; 

"  In  view  of  the  sacrilegious  outrages  committed  in 
Rome  against  the  rights  of  the  Church,  of  the  Holy  See, 
and  the  sacred  person  of  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ; 

"  To  make  honorable  atonement  for  our  sins,  to  receive 
pardon  through  the  merciful  intervention  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  obtain  by  this 
same  intervention  the  extraordinary  assistance  that 
alone  can  deliver  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  from  his  cap- 
tivity, put  an  end  to  the  misfortunes  of  France,  and 
lead  to  its  social  and  religious  restoration, — 

"  We  promise,  when  these  graces  shall  have  been 
granted,  to  contribute  according  to  our  means  to  the 
erection  in  Paris  of  a  church  consecrated  to  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  Jesus,  permission  for  the  erection  of  which 
will  be  asked  of  proper  ecclesiastical  authority." 

Did  the  signers  of  this  act  think  of  the  revelations 
made  to  Saint  Margaret  Mary  ?  No  more,  perhaps, 
than  the  Vendeans  on  the  battle-field,  or  the  "  Western 
Volunteers  "  at  Paray.  But  there  was  One  that  thought 
for  them. 

The  war  ended,  their  vow  was  not  forgotten.  The 
first  step  of  those  that  had  taken  it  was  to  address 
themselves  to  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  submit  to  him 
their  project,  and  ask  his  blessing  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. The  see  of  St.  Denis  was  then  occupied  by  Mgr. 
Guibert,  successor  of  the  illustrious  victim  of  the  Com- 
mune, Mgr.  Darboy.  The  prelate,  in  his  piety  and 
intelligence,  understood  the  Christian  grandeur  of  such 
conceptions;  and  not  satisfied  with  granting  the  author- 
ization asked  of  him,  he  determined  to  devote  to  its 
realization  his  authority,  his  exalted  position,  his  influ- 
ence, and  his  whole  heart.  He  addressed,  in  conse- 
quence, all  the  bishops  of  his  diocese,  and  begged  them 
to  come  to  his  aid.  The  work  had  already  assumed, 
and  as  if  of  itself,  large   proportions.     What  was  origin- 


The  Second  Part  of  Margaret 's  Mission.  343 

ally  to  have  been  a  chapel,  or  a  small  church  (the  result 
of  an  initiative  movement  on  the  part  of  a  few)  was  now 
to  become  a  national  church,  built  with  the  funds,  the 
concurrence,  and  the  heart  of  all  France. 

It  remained  to  choose  a  suitable  locality.  When  we 
glance  at  the  map  of  Paris,  we  perceive  on  the  north  a 
mountain  celebrated  not  only  for  the  geological  treas- 
ures that  it  incloses  in  its  depths;  not  only  because,  by 
its  mysterious  composition  in  the  midst  of  the  vast 
basin  of  the  Seine,  it  is  an  inexplicable  wonder 
yet  to  science;  but  celebrated,  above  all,  because 
from  remote  ages  it  has  always  been  a  holy  place,  a 
sanctuary  venerated  and  visited  from  afar.  It  is  there 
that  St.  Denis,  come  to  evangelize  the  Gauls,  met  their 
most  famous  idols  and  hurled  them  down;  there,  suc- 
cumbing to  the  fury  of  the  pagans,  he  consecrated  and 
transfigured  this  mountain  by  the  shedding  of  his  blood; 
and  there  it  was  that,  on  the  very  spot  of  his  sufferings, 
arose  that  illustrious  church,  built  and  rebuilt  from  age 
to  age,  consecrated  in  the  thirteenth  century  by  Inno- 
cent III.,  and  whither  flock  in  pilgrimage  all  that  Paris 
has  ever  possessed  of  eminent  holiness  and  sanctity. 
It  was  there  that  St.  Ignatius  and  his  companions  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  It  is  there  that 
are  met  in  the  same  faith  and  the  same  memories  Car- 
dinal de  Berulle,  M.  Olier,  Pere  de  Condren,  Bossuet, 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  Montmartre  is  the  holy  place  of 
Paris.  The  people,  who  best  preserve  the  grand  tradi- 
tions of  holy  things,  have  never  ceased  to  love  and  visit 
Montmartre. 

No  position  could,  then,  be  better  suited.  Encour^ 
iged  as  the  work  progressed,  they  resolved  to  build  on 
this  mountain,  whence  it  could  look  down  upon  all 
Paris,  a  temple  which,  by  the  immensity  of  its  propor- 
tions, the  beauty  of  its  sublime  outlines,  the  splendor 
and  richness  of  its  ornaments,  would  be  truly  a  nation- 
al  temple   consecrated   by   all   France   to  the  Heart    of 


344  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Jesus.  And  in  order  to  note  well  of  what  inspiration  it 
was  born,  they  agreed  to  engrave  upon  the  portal  the 
words: 

CHRISTO    EJUSQUE    SACRATISSIMO    CORDI 
GALLIA    P02NITENS    ET    DEVOTA. 

To  realize  so  gigantic  an  enterprise,  it  was  necessary 
to  expropriate  a  certain  number  of  houses  built  on  the 
summit  of  the  mountain.  This  brought  the  matter  be- 
fore the  National  Assembly — that  is  to  say,  since  France 
is  a  republic,  before  the  sovereign.  It  was  an  occasion 
that  the  goodness  of  God  offered  France  to  accomplish 
what  Louis  XIV.  had  not  done,  but  what  Louis  XVI., 
enlightened  by  misfortune,  had  promised  God  in  prison. 
If  the  National  Assembly  allowed  this  providential  oc- 
casion to  escape,  it  performed  at  least  one  important 
act,  one  that  will  be  to  its  eternal  honor.  On  the  plea 
of  public  utility,  it  voted  the  expropriation;  that  is  to 
say,  it  declared  it  to  be  a  public  utility  that  repentant 
France  should  erect  a  temple  to  the  Sacred  Heart.  This 
church  not  having  been  asked  for  under  the  title  of  a 
parish  church,  nor  exacted  by  the  needs  of  worship,  the 
vote  of  the  Assembly  could  be  interpreted  only  in  this 
sense,  as  even  the  enemies  of  the  project  remarked. 
France  herself  understood  it  in  this  way;  and  the  idea 
of  a  national  church  on  the  summit  of  Montmartre,  an 
idea  popular  from  the  very  outset,  received  new  impulse. 
Subscriptions  were  opened  in  all  the  dioceses;  commit- 
tees were  formed  to  excite  and  sustain  zeal;  and  soon 
some  intelligent  and  delicate  initiative  measures  were 
begun.  The  army  asked  to  build  and  ornament  a  chap- 
el at  its  own  expense.  The  working-men,  also,  offered 
shortly  after  to  build  one  that  should  be  consecrated  to 
'Jesus  as  a  Workman."  The  movement  went  on. 
Christian  mothers  desired  to  erect  a  church  to  St.  Mon- 
ica; the  children  would  also  consecrate  one  to  the  Child 
Jesus;  the  priests,  one  to  "  Jesus  as  Priest;"  and  bishops, 


The  Second  Part  of  Margaret 's  Mission.  345 

to  "  Jesus  as  Pontiff."  The  virgins  could  not  be  forgotten 
by  their  Divine  Spouse.  And  thus  the  temple  built  with 
the  gold  and  silver  of  France  shall  ever  be  a  monu- 
ment of  the  sweetest  inspirations  of  her  piety  and 
heart.  But  who  will  lay  the  first  stone  ?  Above  all, 
who  will  make  the  solemn  consecration  ?  No  one 
knows.  Let  us  trust  that  God  will  descend  among  the 
workmen,  and  make  Himself  known  by  strokes  most 
unexpected. 

He  had  said  to  Saint  Margaret  Mary:  "  I  desire 
that  a  temple  be  dedicated  to  My  divine  Heart."  He 
will,  then,  assist  in  the  building;  and,  as  it  is  said  of 
several  of  our  old  cathedrals  that  on  the  day  of  their 
consecration  angelic  voices  were  heard  filling  the  air 
with  sweetest  songs,  so  we  may  believe  that  on  this  day 
there  will  descend  upon  kneeling  France  celestial  words, 
words  of  love  and  pardon. 

It  is  in  this  temple  will  be  made  by  the  mouth  of  her 
sovereign,  whoever  he  may  be  at  the  time,  the  conse- 
cration of  France  to  the  divine  Heart  of  Jesus.  That 
day  will  be  a  great  one  in  our  history.  The  old  alliance 
will  be  renewed,  and  God  will  again  become  the  God  of 
France.  Can  we  credit  the  facts  just  narrated — the 
banner  of  the  Sacred  Heart  on  our  battle-fields,  and 
the  erection  in  Paris  of  a  national  church  to  the  Heart 
of  Jesus  ?  Can  these  two  events,  so  extraordinary,  be 
surpassed?  Yes,  and  they  will  be.  The  month  of  June, 
1873,  witnessed  a  fact  which,  whether  we  consider 
the  time  in  which  it  occurred  or  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  accomplished,  the  gigantic  proportions  with 
which  it  was  clothed  bear  all  the  appearance  of  a  mir- 
acle. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  war,  the  day  after  the 
horrors  of  the  Commune,  toward  the  autumn  of  '71  and 
during  the  year  of  '72,  we  felt  an  unusual  breath  pass 
over  France.  The  celebrated  sanctuaries  were  more  fre- 
quented;   pilgrimages   began,  though   timidly  at  first, 


34°  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

like  the  distant  prognostics  that  precede  or  foretell  a 
storm.  In  1873,  Catholic  France  was  agitated  by  an 
impulse  it  had  not  felt  for  over  six  centuries.  National 
pilgrimages  began  to  Lourdes,  Salette,  Chartres,  Four- 
vieres,  Pontmain,  Puy,  and  France  threw  herself  into 
them  suppliantly.  On  one  day  Lourdes  saw  one  hun- 
dred thousand  kneeling  men  gathered  round  her  shrine. 
Then  came  the  local  pilgrimages.  Each  diocese  had  its 
own,  and  in  it  were  sometimes  seen  thirty  thousand  pil- 
grims. Had  we  the  exact  statistics  of  these  pilgrim- 
ages, we  should  indeed  be  astonished. 

Among  them  all,  that  of  Paray  holds  a  rank  apart.  It 
was  estimated  that  one  day  would  suffice  for  all  the 
others;  but  that  of  Paray  required  a  month.  One  felt 
that  all  France  was  coming.  Marseilles,  the  city  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  opened  the  march  and  arrived  the  first. 
It  was  followed  every  day  by  two,  three,  four,  five  dio- 
ceses, each  with  its  own  banner.  June  25th,  Friday 
after  the  octave  of  Corpus  Christi,  they  numbered 
twenty-five  thousand  men  !  A  month  was  not  enough 
for  the  procession,  which  daily  received  new  increase. 
The  pilgrimage  had  to  be  prolonged  until  the  end  of 
July.  Then,  when  the  concourse  of  the  French  began 
to  subside,  English,  Dutch,  and  Belgian  pilgrims  ar- 
rived. They  who  could  not  yet  come  (not  the  Ameri- 
cans, for  they  were  coming),  the  Scots,  the  Poles,  the 
Russians,  sent  their  banners  to  represent  them.  The 
invisible  Lover,  until  then  hidden  in  the  secret  of  the 
cloister,  had  been  brought  to  light.  He  attracted  all 
hearts.  "  Hundreds  of  banners,  hearts,  ex  votos,  letters 
were  sent  to  us  from  all  corners  of  France,"  wrote  the 
religious  of  Paray.  "  All  the  parish  churches,  all  the 
Communities,  all  the  institutions  of  the  capital,  though 
ever  so  little  religious,  sent  their  souvenirs.  ...  It  was 
an  unheard-of  assemblage.  .  .  .  We  at  first  thought 
that  we  should  be  able  to  keep  an  account  of  the  ex 
votos;  but  at  the  end  of  three  days  we  found  that  to 


The  Second  Part  of  Margarets  Mission.   347 

number  them  would  be  impossible.  Our  choir-grate 
was  not  large  enough  to  hold  them,  for  we  found  them 
everywhere.  All  these  manifestations  may  be  summed 
up  in  these  words  inscribed  some  thousand  times  on  the 
ex  votos:  '  France  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  ! '  "  ' 

But  it  was  not  only  its  duration  and  the  number  that 
composed  the  pilgrimage  that  gave  to  it  its  miraculous 
character;  it  was  the  manner  in  which  it  was  performed 
that  rendered  it  truly  surprising.  The  same  was  re- 
marked everywhere.  Such  a  movement  was  opposed  to 
French  habits, — so  opposed,  in  fact,  that  one  asks  him- 
self how  it  could  have  taken  place  so  spontaneously  and 
unanimously.  This  is  the  plan  they  followed.  The  pil- 
grims set  out  in  procession  from  some  church  and  went 
to  the  railway  station.  There  they  set  up  their  banner, 
placed  on  their  breast  the  picture  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus, 
and,  at  the  first  sound  of  the  whistle,  began  their  chants. 

Almost  every  age,  to  express  its  sentiments  or  give 
soul  to  the  emotions  it  has  aroused,  produces  a  popular 
chant  or  song.  Who  is  the  author?  Whence  did  it 
come  ?  Who  put  it  one  day,  fiery  or  terrible,  on  the 
lips  of  the  people?  Neither  the  Greeks  in  the  time  of 
Tyrtaeus;  nor  our  own  ancestors,  the  old  Gauls,  in  their 
forests;  nor  France  at  the  epoch  of  her  grandest  crises, 
could  say.  No  one  has  written  it,  but  every  one  sings 
it.  It  springs  from  the  soul  of  the  people.  In  the  same 
manner  came  forth  the  hymn  that  then  resounded  for 
the  first  time,  ardent  and  sad,  supplicating  and  tender, 
bathing  in  tears  the  sorrows  of  the  Church  of  France, 
and  uttering  at  each  refrain  a  cry  of  hope  and  a  cry  for 
pardon.  Very  different  from  the  savage  clamors  of  the 
revolutionists,  it  appealed  to  the  tenderness  of  Heaven 
and  not  to  the  anger  of  earth;  instead  of  exciting  souls 
to  hatred,  it  appeased  them  by  repentance. 

Giving  our  soul  up  to  a  sort  of  pious  joy  and  recol- 

1  Circular  letter  of  Paray  upon  the  pilgrimage  of  the  month  of 
June,  1873. 


348  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

lection  as  if  in  a  private  chapel,  we  sang  the  whole 
length  of  the  journey.  When  the  train  slackened  its 
speed,  the  singing  was  heard  to  proceed  from  each  car; 
and  the  sound,  so  unusual  and  so  sweet,  brought  tears 
to  the  eyes. 

Sometimes  it  happened  that  two  trains  met  at  the  same 
station.  The  pilgrims,  taking  their  stand  in  the  door- 
way of  their  several  cars,  sang  in  choir.  We  shall  never 
forget  our  emotion  on  a  certain  occasion  of  this  kind. 
Our  train  had  to  stop  at  a  station  to  let  two  special 
trains  from  Paris  pass.  One  of  them,  speeding  along 
like  lightning,  hurled  at  us  this  verse  of  the  canticle: 

"  Mercy,  my  God,  for  on  a  new  Calvary 
The  Head  of  Thy  Church  is  groaning  in  tears!" 

In  an  instant  we  were  on  our  feet  with  the  spontane- 
ous, unanimous  cry:  "Long  live  Pius  IX. !  Long  live 
France!" 

The  morning  of  the  great  feast,  June  20,  1873,  the 
sun  rose  in  splendor,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  month  the 
processions  were  not  delayed  a  single  day  by  rain.  As 
was  formerly  said  "  the  sun  of  Austerlitz,"  was  now 
said  "the  sun  of  the  Sacred  Heart." 

As  we  neared  Paray,  the  stations  assumed  an  unusual 
appearance.  Crowds  of  pilgrims  were  huddled  around 
them  long  before  the  time:  priests,  religious,  swarms  of 
young  girls  dressed  in  white,  gay  as  birds,  and  wearing 
on  their  breast  the  Heart  of  Jesus;  vehicles  of  all  kinds 
grand  equipages,  and  common  carts,  laden  and  over- 
laden with  passengers,  coming  at  triple  speed,  in  their 
fear  of  losing  a  place  which  they  foresaw  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  find.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  concourse  of 
people  reigned  a  calm  and  joyous  serenity.  Of  these 
thousands  of  men,  women,  and  young  girls,  all  prepared 
to  approach  the  holy  table.  They  preserved,  even  in 
their  eagerness,  and  notwithstanding  the  astonishment 
excited  by  so   unusual  a  scene,  the  recollection  which, 


The  Second  Part  of  Margaret's  Mission.  349 

in  Christian  homes,  always  precedes  such  an  action. 
Spectacles  such  as  these  France  does  not  see  often 
enough.  Her  profoundly  religious  nature,  her  heart  so 
sympathetic  with  all  that  is  elevated  and  sincere,  would 
find  it  hard  to  resist  such  influence. 

Nothing  for  many  a  day  will  equal  in  this  respect 
June  20th  at  Paray.  It  was  the  Friday  after  the  octave 
of  the  feast  of  Corpus  Christi,  the  day  of  which  the 
Lord  had  said  to  His  humble  lover:  "  I  wish  the  Friday 
after  the  octave  of  Corpus  Christi  to  be  dedicated  as  a  solemn 
feast  in  honor  of  My  divine  Heart."  From  midnight, 
Masses  were  being  said  on  the  altars  everywhere  im- 
provised. They  were  not  sufficient,  despite  their  great 
numbers.  This  was  the  only  regret  of  the  day.  There 
should  have  been  a  hundred  altars  more.  In  the  Visita- 
tion chapel,  between  the  altar  upon  which  our  Lord  ap- 
peared and  the  grate  behind  which  she  knelt,  reposed 
Saint  Margaret  Mary.  Her  splendid  casket  had  been 
raised  on  a  throne  surrounded  with  myriads  of  lights, 
and  covered  with  hearts,  crowns,  petitions,  ex  votos  of 
all  sorts.  At  the  head  of  the  throne,  like  the  banner  of 
Joan  of  Arc,  which,  after  "having  waved  at  the  stake,  was 
one  day,  to  the  honor  of  the  country,  to  shade  with  its 
folds  the  altar  of  coronation,  was  seen  the  banner  of  the 
Zouaves,  pierced  by  Prussian  bullets  and  stained  with 
blood.  It  was  waving  above  the  casket.  The  faithful 
kissed  it  in  passing;  mothers  approached  it  with  their 
little  ones;  and  we  saw  soldiers  touching  it  reverently 
with  their  naked  swords. 

At  nine  o'clock  the  procession  began  to  move.  It 
was  no  longer  a  brilliant  triumphal  march;  it  had  be- 
come official  and  liturgical  like  that  we  had  admired  in 
1865,  at  the  time  of  the  Beatification.  There  were,  how- 
ever, neither  cardinals  nor  bishops '  nor  mitred  abbots, 
for  they  were  mingled  with  the  people.     The  liturgical 

1  Except  the  titular  bishop,  and  Mgr.  de  Marguerie,  former  bishop 
of  Autun. 


35°  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

chant  had  given  place  to  one  single  canticle  in  French, 
which  incessantly  rose  to  all  lips: 

"  Save,  save  France, 

In  the  name  of  the  Sacred  Heart  !" 

Shall  we  dare  to  say  that  this  was  not  a  procession  of 
the  Church  ?  It  was  a  procession  of  France  humbled, 
repentant,  striking  her  breast,  and  crying:  "  Mercy,  my 
God!" 

Each  diocese  ranged  under  its  own  banner,  as  did  the 
various  institutions,  colleges,  and  Communities.  There 
were  over  three  hundred  banners,  each  richer  than  its 
neighbor,  each  symbolical  and  eloquent,  each  displaying 
mottoes  and  legends  and  words  that  pierced  the  soul 
like  a  dart.  The  people  applauded  as  they  were  borne 
along.  Their  enthusiastic  cries  of  joy  or  of  sorrow, 
mingling  with  the  chants  of  those  that  formed  the  cor- 
tege to  the  banners,  produced  an  indefinable  impression 
on  the  soul. 

An  unexpected  event  happened  at  the  very  outset, 
which  was  well  calculated  to  rouse  and  excite  the  mul- 
titude. Some  banners  had  alread)?"  passed,  wending 
their  way  toward  a  little  hill  that  overlooked  the  town. 
There  an  altar  had  been  erected  for  Mass  in  the  open 
air.  All  at  once,  through  a  cross  street,  a  group  arrived 
a  little  late,  and  took  its  place  in  the  cortege.  It  was 
the  Alsatian  banner,  pure  white,  but  enveloped  in  folds 
of  crape.  The  cords  were  held  on  one  side  by  a  simple 
soldier,  maimed  and  decorated,  crape  on  his  arm;  on 
the  other,  by  a  noble  lady  in  black  and  covered  in  a  veil 
of  the  deepest  mourning.     On  the  banner  we  read: 

"  Heart  of  Jesus,  restore  to  us  our  country!" 

Who  could  gaze  upon  such  a  sight  unmoved  ?  The 
procession  paused,  the  songs  ceased,  and  the  Alsatians 
cried  out:  "Long  live  France!"  And  we  replied: 
"  Long  live  Alsace!"  We  embraced,  we  mingled  our 
tears.     Eight  days  after,  the  emotion  of  those  that  had 


The  Second  Part  of  Margaret 's  Mission.   351 

witnessed  this  incident  was  still  so  lively  that  to  speak 
of  it  brought  tears  to  the  eyes. 

Loud  shouts  were  heard  some  moments  after,  and  the 
excitement  became  great.  It  was  caused  by  the  ap- 
proach of  the  banner  of  Metz,  which  was  entirely  black, 
as  if  to  attest  the  deepest  despair.  Metz,  the  Virgin 
City,  the  thoroughly  French  city!  Ah,  the  tears  that 
flowed  as  its  banner  was  borne  along!  How  can  we 
think  that  prayers  so  elevated,  so  heart-felt,  can  remain 
unheard  by  Him  who  has  made  nations  curable? 

After  that  of  Metz,  the  Parisian  standard  was  most 
touching.  Around  it  was  grouped  all  that  survived  of 
the  most  ancient  and  illustrious  of  the  French  nobility. 
All  those  noble  ladies  wore  the  same  costume,  a  black 
dress  and  veil.  We  mentally  called  them  by  name,  and 
found  among  them  the  most  famous  of  our  history, 
those  that  were  the  glory  and  sometimes,  alas!  the 
peril  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  eighteenth  centuries. 
We  said:  "  Tis  the  beginning  of  the  reparation.  After 
the  expiation  on  the  scaffold,  this  is  much  better:  re- 
pentance and  recourse  to  the  Sacred  Heart." 

We  were  roused  from  these  reflections  by  songs  full 
of  manly  ardor.     They   proceeded  from  the  Pontifical 
Zouaves.     In   a  spirit  of   prudence,   they  had   left   the 
banner  of  Paray  near  the  holy  casket,  and  carried  hither 
only  a  fac-simile  of  it.     General  Sonis  held  one  of  the 
cords,  General  Charette  the  other.     All  the  officers  fol- 
lowed.    One  felt,  whilst  listening  to  their  chants,  some- 
thing of  the  enthusiasm  that  had  animated  them  when 
fighting   at    Loigny.      A   heart  of   stone    would    have 
thrilled   at  such  a  spectacle.     Along   the    whole  route 
we   heard  a  thousand   cries  of  "  Long  live    Charette  ! 
Long  live   Sonis  !     Long  live  the  Zouaves  !    Long  live 
France  !    Long  live  Pius  IX."     Or  rather,  we  heard  only 
one  cry,  for  all  signified   the  same  at  heart.     An  unex- 
pected incident   crowned  the  emotion.     In  the  evening 
the  procession  defiled  to  cross  the  convent  garden.     At 


35 2  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

the  very  moment  that  they  were  passing  the  little  clump 
of  hazel-trees  under  which  the  Lord  had  appeared  to 
Margaret  Mary  and  first  explained  to  her  the  bloody 
mystery  of  the  Cross,  the  Alsatian  banner  with  its 
drapery  of  crape  clung  to  a  branch.  Whilst  an  effort 
was  being  made  to  disengage  it,  a  sudden  blast  of  wind 
carried  away  the  crape.  The  lookers-on  trembled,  and 
in  all  eyes  glistened  tears  of  joy  and  hope. 

We  cannot  forget  you  in  this  feast,  noble  banner  of 
Orleans,  which  we  had  the  happiness  to  bear  to  this  pil- 
grimage, as  a  messenger  bears  to  sorrowing  friends  a 
word  of  consolation  !  On  a  rich  white  ground  ap- 
peared a  beautiful  picture  of  Joan  of  Arc,  her  drawn 
sword  above  her  heart,  in  the  noble  position,  so  humble 
and  yet  so  resolute,  given  her  by  a  royal  princess.  When 
the  people  perceived  it,  they  pointed  with  their  finger  : 
"  Joan  of  Arc  !  Joan  of  Arc  !"  and  the  enthusiasm  be- 
came great.  It  was  the  resurrection  of  France  that 
they  hailed  in  this  standard. 

Thus,  at  every  step  we  made,  the  true  character  of  the 
pilgrimage  was  proclaimed.  We  had  under  our  eyes 
France  mutilated  and  bleeding.  We  could  not  pray 
for  self ;  we  prayed  for  her.  We  forgot  our  own  mis- 
eries. We  cried  :  "  Save,  save  France,  through  Thy 
Sacred  Heart  !"  To  give  its  true  character  to  this  day, 
a  last  ceremony  was  to  be  performed.  When  the  sun 
was  setting,  and  the  first  shades  of  evening  falling  on 
the  city,  blessed  tapers  were  lighted,  and  Paray  saw 
pass  through  it  a  procession  of  from  three  to  four  thou- 
sand men  carrying  flambeaux  and  singing  the  Miserere. 
The  ceremony  ended  at  the  chapel,  at  the  foot  of  the 
altar  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  before  the  shrine,  by  an 
Act  of  Reparation.  Profound  emotion  filled  every  soul. 
The  adorers  pressed  hands  in  silence,  for  hearts  were 
overflowing. 

The  great  regret  of  the  day,  one  felt  by  all,  was  that 
there  was  no  deputation,  no  representatives  of  the  Na- 


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The  Second  Part  of  Margaret 's  Mission.  353 

tional  Assembly,  at  that  moment  the  sovereign  of 
France.  They  came  nine  days  after,  June  29th,  the 
feast  of  St.  Peter.  But  they  were  too  few  in  number. 
One  hundred  and  fifty,  so  said  their  banner,  had  given 
their  names  ;  but  all  were  not  grouped  around  it. 

"  SACRATISSIMO    CORDE   JESU 

E    LEGATES    AD    NATIONALEM    GALLIC    CCETUM 

CL    VOVERUNT." 

It  was,  however,  a  manifestation  not  less  grand  anu 
touching.  Arrived  at  the  terminus,  they  put  the  Heart 
of  Jesus  on  their  breast,  unfurled  their  standard,  and, 
in  the  midst  of  the  shouting  crowd,  reached  the  Visita- 
tion chapel,  where  they  received  from  the  bishop's  hand 
the  God  who  loves  the  French. 

At  this  moment  a  voice  arose  in  the  name  of  all: l 

"  Most  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  we  come  to  consecrate 
to  Thee  ourselves  and  our  colleagues  united  with  us  in 
sentiment. 

"  We  ask  Thee  to  pardon  the  evil  we  have  committed, 
and  also  all  those  that  live  separated  from  Thee. 

"Inasmuch  as  it  is  in  our  power,  and  as  far  as  it  be- 
longs to  us,  we  consecrate  to  Thee,  with  all  the  ardor  of 
our  soul,  France,  our  well-beloved  country,  with  all  her 
provinces,  her  works  of  faith  and  charity.  We  ask  Thee 
to  reign  over  her  by  Thy  all-powerful  grace  and  holy 
love.  And  we  ourselves,  pilgrims  of  Thy  Sacred  Heart, 
adorers  and  partakers  of  Thy  great  Sacrament,  most 
faithful  disciples  of  the  infallible  See  of  St.  Peter,  whose 
feast  we  are  happy  to  celebrate  to-day,  consecrate  our- 
selves to  Thy  service,  O  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ, 
humbly  asking  of  Thee  the  grace  to  belong  entirely  to 
Thee  in  this  world  and  in  eternity  !     Amen  !" 

Deep  emotion  filled  every  heart  during  the  reading 
of  this  act.  But  it  was  not  vet  that  consecration  of 
France  which  the    saintly  Sister  had  demanded,  which 

1  M.  de  Belcastel,  Deputy  of  the  Haute-Garonne. 


354  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

France  alone  can  make,  and  which  Almighty  God  ex- 
acts. 

Such  was  the  pilgrimage  to  Paray.  To  complete  the 
picture,  we  ought  to  speak  of  its  fruits^  relate  the  out' 
bursts  of  faith  and  piety,  of  grand  simplicity,  that 
recalled  the  best  ages  of  the  Church  ;  the  crowd  con- 
tending for  the  least  relic  of  the  saint,  even  the  leaves 
of  the  hazel-trees,  even  the  earth  and  stones  of  the 
garden  ;  those  nights  passed  in  prayer  before  the 
shrine  ;  those  Communions  so  numerous  that  the  altars 
did  not  suffice  for  them,  that  the  arms  of  the  priests 
fell  from  fatigue,  and  the  religious  of  Paray  "  no  longer 
knew  how  to  procure  enough  hosts  for  the  multitude 
fa?nishing  for  Jesus  f"  ' 

Yes,  the  finger  of  God  is  here  !  Who  can  deny  it  ? 
The  Heart  of  Jesus  is  regenerating  us.  Since  our  fearful 
disasters,  marked  by  a  character  of  chastisement  so 
pronounced  ;  since  the  horrors  of  the  Commune,  whose 
torch  lighted  with  an  ominous  glare  the  abyss  into 
which  they  were  about  to  ingulf  what  remained  of 
France  ;  since  the  blood  of  the  hostages  accepted  by 
God  in  expiation,  a  new  France  has  arisen.  She  it  was 
that  unfurled  at  Paray  the  standard  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  ;  she  it  is  who  is  about  to  construct  at  Paris  the 
Church  of  the  Sacred  Heart  ; a  she  who  during  two 
months  pressed  around  the  foot  of  the  altar  upon  which 
Jesus  had  said  :  "Behold  the  Heart  that  has  so  loved  men  /'* 

The  miracle  is  there,  or  it  is  nowhere.  It  is  as  sub- 
lime as  it  was  unexpected  ;  and  the  rapture  of  such  a 
spectacle  is  all  the  more  sweet  as  we  have  reason  to 
think  that  it  is  only  the  beginning  of  future  graces. 

1   Circular  of  Paray,  November  6,  1873. 

8  This  grand  basilica  is  now  an  accomplished  fact  ;  and  in  it  hangs  a 
bell,  the  joint  offering  of  the  Visitation  houses  from  all  parts  of  the 
world.  It  is,  as  its  inscription  tells,  a  "  Monument  of  piety  to  the  di- 
vine Heart,  to  chant  from  the  summit  of  the  Holy  Mountain,  to  the 
tity,  to  the  nation,  to  the  whole  world,  the  legend  of  the  Visitation 
"^rder  :  Vivat  +  Jesus  !" — Translator's  note. 


The  Second  Part  of  Margaret 's  Mission.   355 

O  Margaret  Mary,  Virgin  of  Paray,  finish  thy  work  ! 
Thou  hast  sown  these  beautiful  seeds  ;  help  them  to 
ripen  under  the  rays  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  Extend  thy 
aid  to  all  souls  that  have  not  had  our  happy  privilege. 
One  day,  in  one  of  thy  most  private  communications 
with  Heaven,  thou  didst  hear  thy  Lord  saying  to  thee  : 
"  I  shall  make  thee  forever  the  heiress  of  all  the  treasures  of 
My  divine  Heart."  Enjoy  them  forever,  O  Virgin,  but 
be  not  avaricious  of  them  !     Share  them  with  us  ! 

And  Thou,  O  Jesus,  place  Thy  Heart  on  the  heart  of 
France  !  Thou  knowest  of  what  elements  it  is  made. 
To  be  good,  she  must  be  loved.  When  enthusiasm 
sways  her,  she  is  sublime.  O  Divine  Enchanter,  capti- 
vate her  by  Thy  beauty  !  Pierce  her  with  darts  so 
sharp  that  she  may  be  forced  to  surrender.  They  were 
so  grand,  this  people,  when  love  held  them  suspended 
at  Thy  pierced  hands  and  feet  :  what  will  they  be  when 
they  rise  to  Thy  Heart  !  Then  all  our  evils  will  be 
ended.  We  shall  again  behold  that  ancient  France  so 
loved  by  the  Church,  contemplated  with  a  noble  jealousy 
by  all  Europe  ;  whose  sword,  genius,  and  heart  were  at 
the  service  of  every  good  cause;  and  which,  finally,  re- 
leased from  the  fearful  poison  that  consumes  her,  will, 
for  the  happiness  of  all,  resume  her  rank  at  the  head  of 
the  nations. 


356  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

MONTMARTRE— THE  WISH  OF  ST.  FRANCIS  DE  SALES 
—THE  VISITATION  ORDER  AND  JANSENISM— THE 
VISITANDINES  AS  REFORMERS  AND  FOUNDERS— 
THE  VISITANDINES  IN  THE  REVOLUTION— THE 
SCAPULAR  OF  THE  SACRED  HEART  IN  THE 
REIGN  OF  TERROR— THE  GUARD  OF  HONOR  OF 
THE  SACRED  HEART— THE  CONSECRATION  OF 
THE  WORLD  TO  THE  SACRED  HEART. 

^  T  is  told  of  Julian  the  Apostate  that  when  he  repre- 
jjr  sented  the  Roman  Caesars  at  Lutetia,  he  would 
night  after  night  go  to  the  roof  of  his  palace  to  gaze 
up  at  the  stars,  wherein  he  thought  to  read  the  downfall 
of  Christianity.  If  he  had  really  read  the  future  he  was 
so  anxious  to  foresee,  well  might  he  have  exclaimed,  as 
the  heights  of  Mons  Martys  caught  his  eye — "Thou  hast 
conquered,  Galilean !" 

No  fitter  site  could  have  been  chosen  for  the  great 
Basilica  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  raised  by  France  as  a  temple 
of  expiation  and  praise,  than  the  hill  of  Montmartre,  of 
which  it  is  the  glory.  The  associations  of  the  mount 
with  France  stretch  back  to  the  earliest  history  of  the 
country.  In  the  river  Seine,  after  its  junction  with  the 
famous  Marne,  lie  seven  islands,  the  largest  of  which  was 
in  ancient  times  the  haunt  and  refuge  of  an  insignificant 
tribe  of  Gauls  known  as  the  Parises.  They  were  no 
people  of  villages  or  towns,  and  left  not  a  mark  save  their 
name  behind  when  the  Romans  came  down  upon  them, 
swept  them  into  oblivion  and  founded  on  their  island  the 
town  of  Lutetia,  the  embryo  of  the  Paris  of  to-day, 
named  in  remembrance  of  the  original  possessors  of  the 
soil.     On  the  slope  of  the  hill  that  rose  above  their  new 


Montmartre.  357 

settlement,  the  conquering  Romans  raised  a  temple  to  the 
God  of  War,  where  now  the  Prince  of  Peace  reigns 
triumphant,  and  gave  to  it  the  name  of  Mons  Martys  in 
his  honor.  Later  on,  an  attempt  was  made  to  change  the 
name  to  Mons  Mercurii,  who,  as  leader  of  those  who 
help  themselves  to  other  people's  property,  was  quite  as 
appropriate  a  patron  for  the  Roman  nation  as  the  fiery 
Mars.  The  statue  of  Mercury  was  placed  alongside  of 
the  first  diety's,  but  the  original  name  remained  until 
the  dawn  of  Christianity.  Dionysius,  the  first  Bishop  of 
Lutetia,  came  hither  in  the  third  century  with  his  ardent 
companions,  preaching  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  On  Mons 
Martys,  just  below  the  temple  of  the  pagan  god,  he  built 
a  chapel  to  the  Mother  of  the  true  God,  and  on  this  hill 
he  and  his  companions,  Rusticus  and  Eleutherius,  re- 
ceived the  palm  of  martyrdom.  Tradition  says  that  after 
his  execution,  Dionysius  arose  from  the  ground  on  which 
his  lifeless  body  had  fallen,  and  raising  the  severed  head 
in  both  his  hands,  carried  it  from  Montmartre,  to  where 
the  famous  Abbey  of  St.  Denis,  named  in  his  honor  and 
the  necropolis  of  the  French  kings,  now  stands.  When 
Christianity  finally  triumphed  over  Gaul  and  Roman,  a 
chapel  was  raised  in  his  honor  on  the  s"pot  where  he  had 
laid  down  his  life  for  Christ,  and  as  the  centuries  rolled 
away,  a  stately  basilica  arose,  to  which  came  pilgrims 
from  every  clime.  Among  those  who  knelt  at  his  shrine 
were  Genevieve,  the  wonderful  maiden  Saint,  whose 
prayers  drove  back  the  haughty  Attila,  Scourge  of  God, 
from  the  gates  of  Paris;  Clotilde,  the  wife  of  Clovis,  the 
"true  apostle"  of  France,  as  she  has  been  styled ;  Bernard 
of  Clairvaux,  Peter  of  Cluny,  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  Ig- 
natius of  Loyola,  with  that  first  band  of  followers  who 
here  made  their  vows,  and  many  others,  famous  in  our 
day  as  in  their  own.  Numerous  religious  communities,  in 
the  course  of  time,  took  root  and  flourished  on  the  hill, 
no  longer  Mons  Martys,  but  Mons  Martyrum,  in  com- 


358  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

memoration  of  Dionysius  and  his  companions.  Their 
relics  were  discovered  in  the  church  dedicated  to  their 
honor  as  late  as  161 1.  "A  wonderful  mount,  indeed," 
writes  the  Jesuit,  Father  Charles  Croonberghs ;  "a  chosen 
battleground,  as  it  were,  whereon  decisive  struggles  have 
been  waged  between  the  powers  of  hell  and  the  all-con- 
quering love  of  Christ." 

Montmartre  has  played,  time  and  time  again,  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  French  history,  through  civil  strife  and 
war.  It  has  more  than  once  been  the  defense  of  the  city 
of  Paris,  its  commanding  height  serving  well  for  such 
purpose.  Henry  of  Navarre  and  the  first  Napoleon  are 
prominent  among  the  rulers  who  have  seized  on  its  na- 
tural advantages.  But  further  back  still,  an  old  chronicle 
gravely  tells  us,  "Otho  II.,  emperor  of  Germany,  at  war 
with  Lothaire  of  France  in  the  year  978,  did  cause  an 
Alleluia  to  be  sung  from  the  hill  of  Mons  Martyrum  by 
the  monks  thereon,  with  such  power  of  lung  as  terrified 
all  Paris."  This  record  speaks  well  for  both  the  purity 
of  the  atmosphere  of  Montmartre  and  the  vim  of  the 
singers. 

The  first  public  praise  ever  offered  the  Heart  of  Jesus 
was  sung  in  a  chapel  erected  on  Montmartre  and  dedi- 
cated to  it  in  the  year  1670.  This  was  afterwards  de- 
stroyed, at  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  In  blasphemous 
contrast,  that  makes  one  wonder  at  the  forbearance  of 
Heaven,  the  name  of  the  hill  was  now  changed  to  Mont 
Marat  and  a  creature  received  the  homage  of  incense  in 
its  chapel.  Near  the  close  of  this  terrible  epoch  of  his- 
tory, when  the  skies  were  just  showing  signs  of  clearing, 
the  Vicomte  de  Bonald  prepared  plans  for  a  temple  of  ex- 
piation for  the  crimes  so  lately  committed  against  God. 
Napoleon,  then  at  war  in  Spain,  approved,  and  sent  orders 
that  public  subscription  should  be  started  for  the  erection 
of  a  temple  of  peace  on  Montmartre.  His  orders,  how- 
ever, were  never  carried  out.     Years  after,  at  the  time 


Monimartre.  359 

of  the  sudden  revolution  that  put  Louis  Philippe  upon 
the  throne  of  France,  the  scheme  of  a  mad  artist  drew 
the  attention  of  the  nation  for  a  time."  He  proposed  to 
cut  the  rock  of  Montmartre  into  an  immense  head  of 
Liberty  "or  of  some  emperor" — the  personality,  evidently, 
of  small  moment.  His  project  was  not  warmly  received 
and  the  rock  is  still  unsculptured. 

Three  memorials  to  the  Sacred  Heart  arose  on  Mont- 
martre in  the  reign  of  Napoleon  III. — a  chapel,  a  church 
and  a  temple.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1872,  however, 
that  the  initiative  of  a  formal  dedication  of  the  mount, 
as  a  symbol  of  France,  had  birth.  A  French  gentleman 
detained  in  Poitiers  during  the  siege  of  Paris,  conceived, 
in  this  time  of  deadly  anxiety  and  suspense,  the  idea  of 
an  expiatory  monument  to  be  erected  on  Montmartre  for 
the  deliverance  and  salvation  of  France.  He  at  first 
thought  of  putting  this  under  the  patronage  of  Our  Lady 
of  Deliverance ;  but  the  claims  of  the  Sacred  Heart  and 
the  promise  of  Its  protection,  made  to  Saint  Margaret 
Mary,  two  centuries  before,  carried  the  day. 

Full  of  his  purpose,  he  went  to  Father  Henry  Ra- 
miere,  the  founder  of  the  Messenger  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 
The  latter,  well  pleased,  at  once  took  up  the  project,  and 
enlisted  prominent  people  of  the  day  in  its  success.  Then 
came  the  horrors  of  the  Commune,  when  Montmartre  was 
drenched  in  the  blood  of  victims.  When  peace  was 
again  restored,  Cardinal  Guibert,  Archbishop  of  Paris, 
espoused  the  cause  with  ardor;  all  the  French  bishops 
united  with  him  in  the  plan,  and  it  spread  with  incredible 
rapidity,  assisted  spiritually  and  materially  by  Pope  Pius 
IX.  In  1873,  the  permission  of  the  Government  was 
solicited  for  the  building  of  the  proposed  memorial ;  this 
was  not  only  accorded  by  the  National  Assembly  under 
President  MacMahon,  in  a  vote  of  382  to  138,  but  it  did 
not  hesitate  to  declare  that  the  proposed  basilica  was  a 
work  of  public  utility,  established  by  the  Archbishop  of 


360  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Paris  in  honor  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  for  the  purpose  of 
drawing  down  upon  France,  and  especially  Paris,  the 
merciful  protection  of  God.  "A  miracle  in  itself,"  re- 
marked a  contemporary. 

Architects  from  all  parts  of  the  world  sent  in  their 
plans.  The  erection  of  the  basilica  proved  a  work  of 
immense  difficulty  and  was  a  triumph  of  engineering,  for 
the  soft  crumbling  stone  of  the  hill  was  undermined  with 
abandoned  and  forgotten  quarries,  necessitating  the  dig- 
ging of  the  foundations  at  a  depth  of  75  feet  below  the 
cornerstone.  This  was  finally  laid,  with  great  ceremony, 
in  1875.  The  date  originally  assigned  for  the  purpose 
was  delayed  more  than  once  by  circumstances,  and  it  is 
a  coincidence  worthy  of  note  that  the  event  was  at  last 
accomplished  on  June  16,  1875,  the  200th  anniversary  of 
the  revelation  of  the  First  Friday  devotion,  June  16,  1675. 

"In  July,  1914,  at  the  close  of  the  Eucharistic  Congress 
at  Lourdes,  the  Papal  Delegate,  in  the  presence  of  ten 
cardinals,  two  hundred  bishops,  two  thousand  priests  and 
an  immense  throng  of  people,  announced  that  the  con- 
secration of  the  Basilica  of  Montmartre  to  the  Sacred 
Heart  would  take  place  on  the  coming  October  17th,  the 
feast  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary.  One  week  later,  the 
great  World  War  broke  out,  and  the  ceremony  had  to 
be  postponed.  But  by  the  express  wish  of  Pius  X  the 
Bishop  of  Autun  on  that  day  read  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Visitation  at  Paray-le-Monial,  the  convent  where  Saint 
Margaret  Mary  spent  her  cloistered  life,  and  in  the  basi- 
lica of  that  town,  a  solemn  act  of  consecration,  repeated 
by  the  people,  imploring  the  Sacred  Heart  to  establish 
its  reign  over  France."  (Life  of  Margaret  Mary,  by 
Sister  Mary  Philip,  of  Bar  Convent,  York). 

The  solemn  consecration  of  France  to  the  Sacred 
Heart,  so  long  delayed,  took  place  in  1919,  one  year  after 
the  closing  of  the  war,  and  a  few  months  before  the 
canonization  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary. 


The  Wish  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales.        361 

"I  will  reign  in  spite  of  all  who  oppose  Me,"  said  Our 
Lord  Himself  to  His  handmaid.  It  is  a  far  cry  indeed 
from  the  first  humble  altar  in  the  noviciate  of  Paray-le- 
Monial,  hardly  more  than  a  chair,  with  its  small  picture 
of  the  Sacred  Heart  and  its  few  flowers  and  lights,  to  the 
magnificent  Basilica  of  Montmartre,  on  which  the  wealth 
of  human  genius  has  been  expended,  and  its  Perpetual 
Adoration,  with  its  daily  and  nightly  crowd  of  earnest 
worshippers. 

In  the  convent  of  Annecy,  the  cradle  of  the  Visitation 
Order,  is  still  preserved  the  book  in  which,  for  thirty-one 
years,  St.  Jane  Frances  de  Chantal  wrote  the  annual  re- 
newal of  her  vows ;  and  every  nun  of  this  community, 
from  her  time  up  to  the  present  day,  has  followed  her 
precedent  and  yearly  inscribed  afresh  her  name  and  vow. 
Besides  these  names  are  many  others,  some  well-known 
to  the  world,  for  kings  and  queens,  statesmen,  soldiers, 
ecclesiastics,  artists,  writers,  as  well  as  people  from  all 
ranks  of  life,  have  placed  their  names  upon  its  pages  in 
the  hope  of  obtaining  the  fulfilment  of  the  wish  of  St. 
Francis,  written  upon  the  first  leaf  in  his  own  hand. 

"Yea,  Lord  Jesus,  graciously  hear  the  exclamation 
of  my  heart  in  behalf  of  Thy  spouses.  Be  this  book 
inscribed  by  Thine  own  self,  and  suffer  not  any  one 
of  them  to  set  her  name  in  it  except  through  Thy 
inspiration  and  motion,  so  that  this  little  volume  may 
cover  my  shoulders  as  a  mantle  of  honor,  and  my 
head  as  a  crown  of  glory;  and  that  in  all  my  as- 
pirations towards  Thee,  I  may  mentally  pronounce, 
in  a  canticle  of  joy  and  praise^  every  name  that  shall 
be  recorded  in  it,  offering  the  list  as  a  posy  of 
sweetness  to  Thy  Divine  Providence.  O  Jesus, 
sweet  and  holy  Love  of  our  souls,  grant  the  year 
in  which  every  Sister  shall  write  her  vows  and 
oblations  in  this  book  be  to  her  a  year  of  sanctifi- 
cation,  the  day  a  day  of  salvation,  the  hour  an  hour 
of  never  ceasing  benediction.  Grant  that  the  hearts 
Thou  hast  aggregated  to  Thy  name  and  that  of 
Thy  dear  Mother  be  never  dispersed ;  that  what  Thou 
hast  assembled  be  never  divided,  and  that  what  Thou 
hast  joined  be  never  separated.  Rather  say,  that 
the  names  inscribed  in  these  perishable  pages  shall 
forever  be  written  in  the  Book  of  Life  with  the  just 
who  reign  with  Thee  in  immortal  bliss.    Amen,  Amen. 


362  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

"History  shows  us  the  heresy  of  Jansenism,  the  prin- 
ciple of  so  many  evils,  seeking  to  insinuate  itself  by  every 
means  into  the  cloister,"  says  Father  J.  B.  Lemius,  in  his 
"Mission  of  the  Order  of  the  Visitation"  ( 191 1 ) .  "Alas  ! 
it  was  sometimes  but  too  successful !  But  as  to  the 
Order  of  the  Visitation,  the  Cardinal  of  York  said:  'It 
is  enough  to  be  a  daughter  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales  to  be 
likewise  a  true  daughter  of  the  Apostolic  and  Roman 
faith.'  The  superiors  everywhere  displayed  the  greatest 
vigilance.  Every  confessor  who  showed  the  slightest 
leaning  to  this  error  was  immediately  replaced.  The 
parlors  were  closed  to  every  person  suspected  of  the 
heresy.  But  a  peculiar  danger  threatened  the  nuns  from 
their  very  virtue — the  perfect  obedience  the  Visitation 
has  always  shown  to  the  bishops,  their  superiors.  What 
reader  of  French  history  is  ignorant  of  this — the  supreme 
trial  of  the  Church  in  France?  In  the  episcopate  of  the 
1 8th  century,  there  were  bishops  who  endeavored,  no 
matter  at  what  cost,  to  introduce  the  poison  into  the 
monasteries.  Among  these  was  the  Bishop  of  Auxerre, — 
or  at  least  he  was  accused  in  the  matter.  Now  Auxerre 
possessed  a  convent  of  the  Order,  and  this  convent  be- 
came an  impregnable  fortress  of  the  faith.  With  respect 
united  to  invincible  firmness,  it  resisted  and  triumphed. 
Humbly  but  energetically,  the  Superioress  refused  a  Jan- 
senist  confessor.  This  enraged  many,  gained  over  to  the 
sect,  who  had  formerly  been  friends ;  relatives  of  the 
Sisters,  Jansenists  also,  became  inflamed  with  passion. 
But  nothing  could  daunt  the  courage  of  the  Visitandines. 
They  chose  rather  to  submit  to  an  order  forbidding  the 
reception  of  any  new  members  and  to  gradually  die  out, 
martyrs  to  the  faith.  But  eleven  religious  remained  in 
the  cloister  when  the  Jansenist  bishop  was  himself  called 
to  appear  before  God. 

"At  Macon,  a  splendid  resistance  was  made.  The  city 
was  infested  with  heresy,  and  the  monastery  was  prompt- 


The  Visitation  Order  and  Jansenism.     363 

ly  attacked.  Mother  dti  Bousquet  called  her  community 
together,  and  put  them  under  the  protection  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  by  a  fervent  act  of  consecration.  In 
season  and  out,  she  impressed  upon  them  the  necessity  of 
perfect  regularity  in  their  observances,  of  a  real  union 
of  hearts  and  of  submission  to  the  Pope.  When  the 
bishop  of  the  city  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  sec- 
tarians, she  called  a  chapter,  proclaimed  the  obedience 
due  the  Holy  See,  and  on  her  knees  made  the  profession 
of  faith  in  her  own  name  and  that  of  all  the  community. 

Trials  and  want  came  upon  the  convent,  but  it  boldly 
fronted  the  storm.  'The  kingdom  of  God  first!'  cried 
the  valiant  Mother. 

"The  story  of  the  monastery  of  Caen  is  pitiful.  What 
made  things  worse  was  that  Mother  du  Beaumanoir  was 
allied  to  the  family  of  Mgr.  de  Bayeux,  Prince  of  Lor- 
raine. The  six  years  of  her  incumbency  were  one  con- 
tinuous struggle.  The  Bishop  used  his  power  to  the  ut- 
most— the  nuns  were  deprived  of  the  sacraments,  elections 
were  hindered  or  thwarted,  their  officers  were  deposed, 
an  attempt  was  made  to  modify  the  rules,  the  reception  of 
new  members  was  forbidden.  Faithful  to  God,  Mother 
du  Beaumanoir  never  failed  to  show  the  respect  due  to 
episcopal  dignity ;  but  she  recoiled  before  no  humiliation 
or  suffering,  nor  lost  any  opportunity  to  defend  the  con- 
stitutional rights  of  the  Order,  the  liberty  of  election — 
above  all,  the  purity  of  the  faith.  From  this  stand,  noth- 
ing could  move  her.  There  were,  it  is  true,  a  few 
breaches — such  as  that  of  Castellane.1  But  in  this  case, 
one  might  even  say  'Felix  culpa !'  for  it  but  served  to 
show  how  vigorously  the  Order  could  repair  an  evil  and 
cast  out  the  venom  that  sought  the  life  of  its  spirit." 

"Although  the  Visitation  Order  was  on  the  whole  loyal 

[1The  instance  of  the  convent  at  Castellane,  of  which  Father 
Lemius  speaks,  is  here  drawn  from  a  Visitandine  source.  The 
Life  of  Ven.  Anne  Madeleine  Remusat,  by  the  Visitation  Sisters 
of  Harrow,  1920.] 


364  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

during  the  Jansenist  heresy,  it,  too,  suffered  by  the  as- 
saults made  upon  every  institution  in  the  Church  .  .  . 
Jansenism  appears  to  have  been,  of  ail  heresies,  one  of 
the  most  insidious.  No  Jansenist  would  admit  that  he 
was  not  a  Catholic,  for  to  remain  in  external  communica- 
tion with  the  Church  was  essential  to  his  aim  .  .  .Ma- 
dame de  Sevigne,  granddaughter,  as  is  well-known  of 
St.  Jane  Frances  de  Chantal,  speaks  in  one  of  her  letters 
of  giving  the  'Treatise  on  Frequent  Communion,'  by 
Arnauld  (a  book  discountenancing  frequent  Communion) 
to  the  nuns  of  a  certain  convent  which  she  was  in  the 
habit  of  visiting.  They  were  charmed  with  it,  she  says, 
but  the  .perusal  of  this  book  by  them  must  be  kept  a  great 
secret.  Notwithstanding,  this  very  community  later  on 
became  conspicuous  for  its  opposition  to  Jansenism  and 
its  loyalty  to  the  Holy  See.  The  two  convents  of  Nevers 
and  Castellane  unhappily  became  infected  to  a  large  ex- 
tent with  the  disease,  and  all  the  other  houses  of  the 
Order  offered  unceasing  prayer  to  God  for  them.  It  is 
remarkable  that  neither  of  these  houses  encouraged  de- 
votion to  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  that  coincidently  with 
its  adoption  at  Nevers,  the  sisters  turned  at  once  from 
their  error  and  became  true  children  of  the  Church  again. 
Castellane,  however,  was  completely  under  the  influence 
of  the  Bishop,  Jean  Soanen,  who  used  all  the  eloquence 
for  which  he  was  noted  to  imbue  his  daughters  with 
Jansenistic  doctrine.  At  the  age  of  eighty,  he  was  sus- 
pended and  sent  to  a  monastery,  where  he  died,  con- 
tumacious, at  the  age  of  ninety-three.  The  condemnation 
of  their  bishop  seems  to  have  simply  urged  the  Visitan- 
dmes  of  Castellane  on  to  further  rebellion.  Not  the 
Pope  nor  the  whole  Church,  they  declared,  should  make 
them  change  their  opinions.  Threatened  with  excommu- 
nication, they  declared  they  gloried  in  suffering  for 
justice'  sake ! 

"The  unhappy  nuns  continued  in  open  rebellion  till  they 


The  Visitandines  asReformers  and  Founders.   365 

drew  upon  themselves  the  condemnation  of  the  Church, 
and  the  king  (Louis  XV.)  ordered,  by  lettres  de  cachet, 
eleven  of  them  to  leave  Castellane  and  go  to  various  re- 
ligious houses  instead. 

"This  step  and  the  charity  and  kindness  with  which  they 
were  received  by  their  sisters  in  religion,  at  last  opened 
their  eyes.  Hearing  of  the  happy  result,  M.  de  la  Motte, 
the  priest  who  had  replaced  their  former  Jansenistic 
chaplain,  obtained  permission  for  them  to  return  to  their 
own  convent  again. 

"A  singular  obstacle  presented  itself.  Twenty  of  the 
less  rebellious  nuns  had  been  allowed  to  remain  at  Cas- 
tellane. When  the  exiles  sought  admittance  again,  they 
were  refused  and  called  apostates  by  their  unrepentant 
sisters.  Admission  had  to  be  gained  by  force,  and  the 
trouble  became  a  scandal.  Each  party  went  its  own  way, 
sharing  nothing  in  common.  The  prayers  of  the  entire 
Order  were  offered  for  the  recalcitrants,  and  finally  the 
tact  and  gentleness  of  Father  de  la  Motte  and  the  sweet- 
ness and  firmness  of  a  Superior  sent  them  from  the 
Convent  of  Embrun  won  them  all  back,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  four  sisters,  who  died  before  peace  was  made, 
and  who  were  styled  martyrs  on  the  roll  of  the  Jansen- 
ists." 

"At  first  glance,  the  work  of  the  Visitandines  as  Re- 
formers and  Founders  would  seem  entirely  opposed  to 
the  spirit  of  an  Order  which  its  saintly  Founder  said  was 
to  be  as  an  humble  violet  in  the  garden  of  the  Church.  Yet 
one  of  the  greatest  glories  of  the  Order,  that  which  its 
modesty  has  striven  hard  to  conceal,  is  the  part  it  has 
played  in  the  reformation  of  relaxed  monasteries 
and  it  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  every  house  which 
accepted  the  good  offices  of  the  Visitation  returned  to 
its  original  spirit.  Such  houses  did  not  change  old  rules — 
they  simply  regained  old  fervor.  Not  only  this,  but  the 
Visitation  has  more  than  once  cast  seed  into  the  field  of 


366  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

religion  which  has  borne  a  hundredfold  in  new  orders, 
distinct  from  itself.  The  Order  of  the  Sacred  Heart  is 
one  of  these  magnificent  fruits.  At  Paris,  Marseilles, 
Lyons,  Grenoble,  Montpellier  and  a  number  of  other 
places,  Visitation  superioresses  were  called  on  by  the 
bishop  to  take  charge  of  Magdalen  Refuges.  Mother 
Patin,  at  Caen,  was,  in  fact,  co-foundress  with  Blessed 
John  Eudes  of  the  Congregation  of  Our  Lady  of  Charity, 
the  mother-house  of  all  the  Refuges  which  claim  Blessed 
Eudes  as  their  founder,  and  the  admirable  Congregation 
of  the  Good  Shepherd  of  Angers,  which  to-day  has  so 
many  branches  throughout  the  world. 

"Mother  Patin,  putting  her  hand  to  the  plough,  did  not 
look  back ;  she  triumphed  over  every  obstacle,  she  effected 
miracles,  so  to  speak,  in  the  maintenance  of  her  charges, 
she  drew  novices  to  the  new  Order,  wrote  its  Constitu- 
tions and  its  directions,  and  even  selected  its  dress.  Then 
she  devoted  herself,  successfully,  to  obtaining  approval 
of  it  at  Rome. 

"The  Bernardines  of  Clermont,  the  Clares  of  Tarascon 
and  of  Avignon,  the  Augustines  of  Toulouse,  the  Ursul- 
ines  of  Brive  and  many  others,  received  with  gratitude 
the  aid  of  the  Visitandines.  Mother  du  Houx,  of  the 
monastery  of  Cace,  was  called  by  the  bishop  of  Rennes, 
at  the  express  desire  of  the  Abbess  herself,  to  the  Abbaye 
de  la  Joie,  brought  almost  to  ruin  by  internal  dissensions. 
In  two  months,  she  had  reconciled  the  belligerents,  and 
went  back  to  her  cloister  leaving  the  Abbaye  in  profound 
peace  and  calm.  Her  work  had  just  begun.  The  bishop 
of  Treguier  next  invoked  her  aid  in  his  troubles  with 
four  different  Ursuline  convents.  Successful  again  in 
this  undertaking,  she  was  a  third  time  withdrawn  from 
her  convent  to  the  same  work  of  reformation  in  Brittany. 
Twenty-five  years  afterwards,  she  completed  her  extraor- 
dinary ministry  by  a  masterpiece  of  spiritual  accomplish- 
ment.   Father  Huby  had  inaugurated  a  series  of  retreats 


The  Visitandines  as  Reformers  and  Founders.   367 

at  Varennes,  believing  this  to  be  the  best  method  of  pre- 
serving the  faith  in  Brittany.  But  to  insure  the  perma- 
nency of  this  work,  it  was  found  necessary  to  have  the 
services  of  an  Institute  entirely  devoted  to  it.  Mother 
du  Houx  was  called  upon  to  head  the  enterprise.  For 
two  years,  she  trained  the  Foundresses  in  the  spirit  of 
St.  Francis  de  Sales,  and  thus  created  one  of  the  most 
solid  and  meritorious  congregations  in  Brittany. 

"Mother  Duret  was  called  on  to  reform  a  convent  where 
a  heretic  priest  had  sown  bad  seed.  'All  the  universities 
in  the  world,'  said  the  good  mother,  'could  never  have 
converted  these  poor  souls — but  the  grace  of  our  Blessed 
Mother  and  the  mildness  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales  tri- 
umphed over  their  obstinacy,  and  the  monastery  returned 
to  its  old  faith  and  fervor.' 

"The  greatest  achievement  of  the  Visitation  Order,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world,  was  doubtless  that  of  the  royal 
foundation  of  St.  Cyr,  in  1692.  When  there  was  ques- 
tion of  the  training  of  the  Dames  de  St.  Louis  in  the 
religious  life,  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  emphatic  in 
her  declaration  that  a  Visitandine  alone  could  give  the 
proper  direction.  Louis  XIV.  upheld  her  views,  having 
a  great  admiration  for  the  work  of  Mother  de  Lorges 
in  the  Refuges  of  Paris.  Mother  de  Priolo,  of  the  mon- 
astery of  Chaillot,  was  obliged  by  the  order  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Paris  to  leave  her  cell  and  devote  herself  to 
this  mission.  This  remarkable  superioress  labored  to  in- 
still the  spirit  of  St.  Francis  into  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  her  charges,  and  so  successfully  that  she  went  back  to 
her  cloister  overwhelmed  with  the  felicitations  of  the 
king  and  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who  said :  'To  the  Vis- 
itation is  owing  all  the  good  that  has  been  and  ever  will 
be  done  at  Saint  Cyr.'  In  our  own  day,  Mother  Sera- 
phine  Fournier,  at  the  desire  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris, 
aided  in  the  foundation  of  the  Blind  Sisters  of  St.  Paul, 
a  triumph  of  religious  charity  and  zeal.    'What  has  not 


368  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

St.  Francis  de  Sales  done,'  she  said,  'to  help  these  dear 
blind  sisters  to  consecrate  themselves  to  God,  notwith- 
standing their  affliction,  he  who  wished  that  in  his  Visi- 
tation he  could  gather  all  the  afflicted  of  the  earth!' 

"How  is  it  that  the  Visitation  Order,  vowed  to  a  life 
hidden,  par  excellence,  has  thus  come  forward  in  the 
world,  in  spite  of  itself,  and  taken  so  prominent  a  part  in 
works  that  have  carried  its  name  to  all  the  winds?  It  is 
because  the  spirit  of  St.  Francis  never  dies  in  the  hearts 
of  his  daughters."  (J.  B.  Lemius,  Mission  of  Visitation 
Order.) 

"I  love  my  veil  as  you  do  your  sword,"  said  Sister  de 
Montmarin  to  her  soldier  brother.  This  was  the  spirit 
of  all  the  daughters  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales  when  the 
storm  of  the  Revolution  broke  over  France.  "A  heroic 
courage  in  hearts  united  to  God,  the  practice  of  observ- 
ances in  the  midst  of  a  perverse  world  and  upon  ground 
deluged  with  blood,  a  smile  in  the  very  face  of  the  scaf- 
fold, testified  that  outside  the  cloisters  from  which  they 
had  been  torn,  as  within  them,  the  nuns  of  the  Visitation 
lived  in  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus."  The  National  As- 
sembly abolished  all  vows  in  1789.  The  unanimous  re- 
sponse of  the  Visitandines  to  this  was — Rather  die  than 
leave  our  monasteries !  A  second  decree  proclaimed  the 
restoration  of  "liberty"  to  all  persons  living  in  religious 
communities,  and  a  delegate  was  sent  to  all  the  convents 
with  this  piece  of  news.  "So  be  it,"  was  the  response, 
"respect  that  liberty  then,  and  leave  us  in  peace !" 
Some  made  even  more  spirited  rejoinder — "If  we  had 
not  already  made  our  vows,  we  would  go  this  instant  to 
the  house  tops  and  proclaim  them  to  the  world !" 

But  soon  came  threatening  crowds  outside  their  walls ; 
men  rushed  through  their  cloisters  brandishing  swords 
red  with  the  blood  of  faithful  priests.  Then  came  the  dis- 
solution of  all  monasteries,  a  return  into  the  world  con- 
vulsed in  revolutionary  throes.    At  Annecy,  where  Fran- 


The  Visitandines  in  the  Revolution,       369 

cis  de  Sales  and  Jane  Frances  de  Chantal  were  awaiting 
the  call  of  resurrection,  there  was  profound  anxiety. 
What  would  become  of  these  precious  relics  in  the  hands 
of  monsters  who  cared  for  neither  God  nor  man?  The 
courage  and  presence  of  mind  of  a  friendly  official  saved 
them  from  profanation,  and  restored  them  to  their  chil- 
dren in  happier  times.  At  Lyons,  where  the  heart  of 
St.  Francis  was  preserved,  a  veritable  miracle  snatched 
it  out  of  unhallowed  hands  and  brought  it  in  safety  to 
Venice.  Reading  the  history  of  the  Order  in  that  dread- 
ful time,  one  finds  natural  emotion,  it  is  true,  at  the  ruin 
of  "the  fair  land  of  France ;"  but  the  predominant  thought 
in  every  breast  was  how  to  keep  the  Rules,  the  daily 
observances  of  religious  life?  The  poor  exiles  clung  to- 
gether, wherever  possible,  united  in  the  chanting  of  the 
Divine  praises,  strove  to  keep  up  their  relations  with  their 
Superiors  and  even  held  chapters,  from  time  to  time. 
Some  drew  for  themselves,  in  the  privacy  of  the  homes  to 
which  they  had  returned,  or  the  lodging  places  they  were 
forced  to  seek,  limits  that  they  regarded  as  cloister  and 
which  they  never  passed  except  to  assist  at  some  stealthily 
said  Mass.  Bitter  poverty  was  the  lot  of  many — yet  they 
cried  "Vive  la  Pauvrete!"  "I  suffer,"  wrote  one  of  the 
nuns,  "but  it  is  from  excess  of  happiness.  Privations, 
torments,  prisons,  the  scaffold — ah,  what  consolations  I" 
In  the  daily  hearing  of  that  terrible  roll  of  the  drum 
which  announced  crime  upon  crime,  assassination  upon 
assassination — "Nothing,"  declared  another,  "gives  me 
a  quicker  beat  of  the  heart." 

The  oath  was  unanimously  refused.  "I  am  a  child  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church,  and  I  am 
ready  to  die  for  my  faith !"  Such  was  the  brave  response 
upon  every  lip.  "Live  Jesus!  This  is  my  oath."  Many 
of  the  nuns  were  brought  before  the  Tribunal  and  sen- 
tenced to  transportation  or  the  guillotine.  But  by  a 
special  protection  of  God,  though  all  were  ready  to  lay 


370  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoquc. 

down  their  lives,  the  majority  escaped  death, — and  this 
is  the  explanation.  "You  are  rather  too  ready,"  said  the 
executioner  to  one :  "you  can  wait  till  to-morrow,  then !" 
To  another — "Since  you  are  so  joyful  about  it,  wait 
awhile  longer !" 

These  delays  practically  meant  deliverance.  They 
were  the  work  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  protecting  those  It 
had  chosen  for  Its  apostolate.  "Hidden  in  the  world, 
they  become  to  those  around  them  so  many  centres  of 
prayer,  of  reparation  and  of  confidence  in  God,  at  the 
very  time  that  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  was  being 
mocked  and  insulted  in  Paris.  After  the  storm  the 
Order  rose  anew,  fresh  and  full  of  vigor.  "Thy  youth 
shall  be  renewed  like  the  eagle's." 

A  story  not  told  in  the  histories,  but  strange  enough, 
is  that  of  the  part  played  by  the  Scapular  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  Jesus  during  the  Reign  of  Terror.  In  1771  the 
Parliament  of  Paris,  a  party  of  Jansenists  and  "philoso- 
phers," prohibited  the  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  in 
France.  This  decree  was  by  no  means  as  effectual  as 
they  vainly  hoped  to  make  it,  and  the  faithful  of  the 
nation  were  but  little  affected  by  it.  When  the  rumblings 
of  the  storm  that  later  on  overwhelmed  the  unhappy  land 
began  to  be  heard,  and  popular  suspense  and  anxiety  com- 
menced to  become  almost  unendurable,  it  was  to  the 
Heart  of  Jesus  that  France  instinctively  turned  for  help. 
"You  cannot  imagine  how  fervent  souls  are  redoubling 
their  zeal — surely  Heaven  cannot  be  deaf  to  so  many 
prayers,  offered  with  such  trustfulness,"  wrote  Madame 
Elizabeth,  the  "Genevieve"  of  the  royal  family,  to  the 
Abbe  de  Lubersac,  then  in  Rome,  during  the  dark  days 
of  1 791.  "It  is  from  the  Heart  of  Jesus  that  they  seem 
to  await  the  favors  of  which  they  are  in  need ;  the  fervor 
of  this  devotion  appears  to  redouble ;  the  more  our  woes 
are  increased,  the  more  these  prayers  are  offered  up." 
The  scapular  of  the  Sacred  Heart  was  eagerly  sought, 


The  Scapular  in  the  Reign  of  Terror,     371 

its  wearing  deemed  a  protection,  and  the  Visitandines 
had  all  they  could  do  to  supply  the  demand.  The  ways 
of  God  are  not  ours.  With  these  scapulars  on  their 
breasts  the  Carmelite  martyrs  were  immolated,  many 
other  victims  mounted  the  scaffold,  and  the  King  of 
France  himself  laid  his  head  beneath  the  axe."  Louis 
XVI  and  all  his  family  were  devout  wearers  of  this 
scapular,  even  in  the  times  when  the  dark  future  of  the 
kingdom  was  undreamed  of.  Those  they  used  were  of 
cloth  of  gold,  on  which  was  embroidered  the  Heart, 
pierced  with  two  arrows,  with  the  words  "miserere 
nobis  I"  beneath.  The  meaning  of  these  scapulars  was 
without  doubt  perfectly  familiar  lo  the  Revolutionists ; 
but  when  on  searching  numerous  prisoners  they  found 
the  same  emblem,  it  was  assumed  that  these  little  pieces 
of  cloth,  marked  with  the  Heart  of  a  Savior  Whom  they 
no  longer  acknowledged,  were  in  reality  evidences  of  a 
wide-spread  plot  against  "public  safety."  Then  began 
a  systematic  search  on  the  persons  of  all  suspects  and 
prisoners,  and  thousands  of  victims  were  executed  for 
no  other  offense.  In  spite  of  this,  the  brave  Vendeans 
went  into  battle  with  the  powers  of  evil  that  were  crush- 
ing France  with  the  scapular  of  the  Sacred  Heart  openly 
displayed  upon  their  breasts ;  to  that  Heart  they  attrib- 
uted the  successes  they  made,  and  falling  on  the  field, 
vanquished  but  unconquered,  they  died  in  a  faith  and  con- 
fidence that  made  them  martyrs. 

One  of  the  royal  treasures  confiscated  in  the  Temple 
was  the  scapular  of  the  Sacred  Heart  worn  by  Marie 
Therese,  the  young  daughter  of  Louis  and  Marie  An- 
toinette. "They  took  from  my  mother  the  address  of  a 
shop,"  she  wrote,  "from  my  aunt  Elizabeth  a  stick  of 
sealing-wax,  and  from  me  a  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  and 
a  Prayer  for  France."  St.  Beuve,  commenting  on  this, 
says :  "That  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  and  that  Prayer  for 
France  were  closer  bound  together  than  would  seem  at 


372  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

first;  and  perhaps  she  needed  all  her  faith  in  the  one 
to  be  able  at  that  moment  to  pray  for  the  other." 

The  beautiful  prayer  that  her  aunt,  the  courageous  and 
noble  Madame  Elizabeth,  gave  to  her  friend  the  Marquise 
de  Raigecourt,  is  still  preserved  in  the  Bibliotheque  Na- 
tionale,  in  her  own  handwriting: 

"Adorable  Heart  of  Jesus,  sanctuary  of  the  love  that 
led  God  to  make  Himself  man,  to  sacrifice  His  life  for 
our  salvation,  and  to  make  of  His  body  the  food  of  our 
souls :  in  gratitude  for  that  infinite  charity,  I  give  You 
my  heart,  and  with  it  all  that  I  possess  in  this  world,  all 
that  I  am,  all  that  I  shall  do,  all  that  I  shall  suffer.  But, 
my  God,  may  this  heart,  I  implore  You,  be  no  longer 
unworthy  of  You ;  make  it  like  unto  Yourself ;  surround 
it  with  Your  thorns  and  close  its  entrance  to  all  ill- 
regulated  affections ;  set  there  Your  cross,  make  it  feel 
its  worth,  make  it  willing  to  love  it.  Kindle  it  with  Your 
divine  flame.  May  it  burn  for  Your  glory;  may  it  be 
all  Yours,  when  You  have  done  what  You  will  with  it. 
You  are  its  consolation  in  its  troubles,  the  remedy  of  its 
ills,  its  strength  and  refuge  in  temptation,  its  hope  during 
life,  its  haven  in  death.  I  ask  You,  O  Heart  so  loving, 
the  same  favor  for  my  companions.  Amen." 

"The  monastery  of  the  Visitation  in  Bourg  was  one 
of  the  first  to  be  re-established  after  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, in  the  year  i8c6.  In  1824  new  quarters  were  se- 
lected— the  Hotel  of  the  Meillonas  family,  in  the  Rue 
Teyniere.  It  is  said  that  a  certain  pious  woman  of  Bourg 
never  passed  this  mansion,  before  its  occupancy  by  the 
Visitandines,  without  the  sign  of  the  cross.  Asked  why 
she  did  this,  she  answered :  'Our  Lord  has  made  known 
to  me  that  He  will  one  day  be  greatly  glorified  in  this 
place.' 

"In  fact,  it  was  here  that  in  1825  the  first  confraternity 
of  the  Sacred  Heart  was  established,  and  a  chapel  erec- 
ted in  1834,  in  which  the  entire  month  of  June  was  con- 
secrated to  Its  honor  with  public  services.     An  associa- 


The  Guard  of  Honor  of  the  Sacred  Heart.    373 

tion  of  more  than  300  women  was  formed  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  visible  marks  of  heavenly  favor  followed. 
These  associates  selected  one  hour  each  month  for  adora- 
tion and  worship;  or  rather,  without  neglecting  their 
ordinary  occupations,  they  kept  one  hour  of  recollection 
and  prayer  in  honor  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus.  This 
was  the  nucleus  of  the  Guard  of  Honor.  In  .1862,  the 
community  of  this  house  proclaimed  the  Sacred  Heart 
as  King  of  their  monastery.  They  later  learned  that  at 
the  same  time  the  monasteries  of  Annecy  and  Paray-le- 
Monial,  unknown  to  each  other  or  to  Bourg,  had  done  the 
same  thing.  'Find  some  new  means  of  glorifying  the 
Heart  of  Jesus !'  cried  the  nuns  of  Bourg,  turning  to 
Sister  Marie  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  one  of  their  number. 
The  commission  could  not  have  been  placed  in  better 
hands.  On  January  1,  1863,  Sister  Marie  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  put  before  the  community  a  formal  protestation 
of  devotion  to  the  greater  glory  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  of 
fervent  desire  to  console  It  and  to  obtain  through  It  the 
salvation  of  poor  sinners.  This  was  signed  by  every 
Sister  and  deposited  on  the  altar  during  Mass. 

"On  the  6th  of  January,  the  proclamation  of  the  Roy- 
alty of  the  Sacred  Heart  was  again  made  and  the  ques- 
tion of  forming  Its  court,  as  it  were,  considered.  During 
recreation,  various  plans  were  suggested.  The  thought 
of  changing  the  monthly  hour  to  a  daily  one,  and  that 
of  a  dial  on  which  each  hour  should  be  placed  under  the 
patronage  of  the  angels  and  saints,  and  the  names  of  each 
member  inscribed,  came  to  the  mind  of  Sister  Marie  of 
the  Sacred  Heart.  And  it  was  she,  likewise,  who  gave 
to  the  band  the  name  of  the  'Guard  of  Honor,'  and  adop- 
ted for  its  watchword — 'Glory,  Love,  Reparation  and 
Zeal.'  In  her  soul  was,  deep  down,  the  conviction  that 
the  Guard  of  Honor  would  be  a  source  of  abundant 
graces  for  the  Church  and  for  sinners'  conversion  and 
salvation.     Moreover,  she  believed  that  it  would  eventu- 


374    Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

ally  spread  over  the  whole  world — a  belief  entirely  justi- 
fied. 

"The  priest  of  the  parish"  and  the  chaplain  of  the  con- 
vent were  the  first  to  inscribe  their  names,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  the  whole  city  of  Bourg  accepted  the 
devotion  with  enthusiasm.  But  there  was  one  source  of 
disquiet.  How  would  Annecy  and  Paray,  the  two  Holy 
Mounts — the  one,  centre  of  the  Apostolate  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  the  other  the  fountain-head  of  the  Order,  regard 
the  new  movement?  From  both  came  unequivocal  ap- 
proval and  a  warmth  of  encouragement  beyond  expecta- 
tion. The  Superioress  of  Annecy  happened  at  the  time 
to  be  ill  and  suffering  greatly.  Hardly  had  the  Dial  of 
the  Guard  of  Honor  been  brought  into  her  room,  that 
she  might  see  its  arrangement,  than  she  rose  from  her 
bed  cured.  Asking  for  a  pen  she  wrote :  'This  practice 
is  simply  a  more  perfect  observance  of  the  Rule  during 
the  hour  of  guard.'  In  1864  she  wrote  to  Sister  Marie — 
'I  love  to  think  with  what  complacency  our  holy  founders 
must  look  at  you  from  heaven,  watching  you  work  thus 
for  the  glory  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus.' 

"At  the  monastery  of  Paray,  it  was  even  better.  The 
person  charged  with  showing  the  Dial  to  the  Superioress 
felt  great  embarrassment  in  so  doing,  for  at  this  very 
moment  Paray  was  occupied  with  a  promotion  of  the 
Communion  of  Reparation,  and  would  naturally  find 
rather  strange  the  request  to  assist  in  the  promulgation 
of  another  novelty  in  the  religious  world,  issuing  too,  as 
if  in  rivalry,  from  a  sister-house  so  near !  However, 
taking  her  courage  in  her  hands,  the  messenger  made  a 
casual  allusion  to  the  Dial  of  the  Guard  of  Honor.  'A 
dial?'  said  the  Superioress.  'Show  it  to  me  at  once!' 
After  examining  it  with  attention,  she  said,  with  some 
emotion,  'Come  with  me,  my  child.'  And  she  took  her 
into  the  community  room,  where  there  had  just  been  hung 
another  Dial,  exactly  similar,  down  to  the  very  protectors 


The  Guard  of  Honor  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  3  75 

of  each  hour — a  coincidence  absolutely  above  suspicion 
of  any  collusion.  The  whole  body  of  sisters  put  down 
their  names  on  the  Dial  of  the  Guard  of  Honor,  as  those 
of  Annecy  had  previously  done. 

The  movement  proved  irresistible.  The  Pontifical 
Zouaves,  through  their  chaplain,  a  native  of  Bourg,  en- 
rolled themselves  to  a  man.  The  Dials  journeyed  in  every 
direction,  not  only  through  France,  but  to  England,  Aus- 
tria, Italy,  Switzerland — and  at  the  present  day  are  to 
be  found  in  every  country  of  the  world. 

Pope  Pius  IX  was  deeply  interested  in  the  Association. 
He  revised  the  prayer  himself,  gave  his  sanction,  en- 
riched the  Archconfraternity  with  numerous  indulgences 
and  inscribed  his  name  as  the  First  Guard  of  Honor. 
His  successors  have  all  followed  his  example. 

A  new  inquietude  now  took  possession  of  the  Visit- 
andines  of  Bourg.  It  was  not  for  them,  they  thought, 
of  whom  their  Foundress,  St.  Jane  de  Chantal  said: 
"The  glory  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Visitation  is  to  have  no 
glory,  and  their  greatness  is  their  weakness,"  to  stand 
forth  to  the  world  as  the  "callers  to  the  flag,"  even  if  the 
flag  be  that  of  Christ.  Where  would  be  their  obscurity, 
their  annihilation  in  the  sight  of  men,  if  they  should  thus 
become  so  prominent  ?  Time  was  to  show,  however,  that 
the  mission  of  the  Visitation  is  the  Apostolate  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  and  that  it  was  of  the  Visitation  Order, 
that  the  Sacred  Heart  demanded  this  apostolate. 

At  the  foundation  of  the  devotion,  the  Visitandines  of 
Bourg  applied  to  the  Jesuits  to  take  charge  of  the  work, 
but  Father  Beckx,  the  General  of  the  Order,  refused  their 
request,  saying  with  a  touch  of  humor :  'The  name,  Guard 
of  Honor,  is  a  trifle  military.  Now  the  idea  of  the  Gen- 
eral of  the  Jesuits  leading  on  a  Guard  of  Honor  would 
certainly  give  rise  to  an  interpretation  but  little  desired !' 
Then  the  Sisters  begged  the  Fathers  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
at  Issodoun  to  assume  direction.     This  request  also  was 


376  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

refused.  Later  on,  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  seeing  the 
immense  expansion  of  the  Guard  of  Honor,  and  the 
onerous  labor  it  involved,  began  to  fear  that  the  spirit 
of  the  monastery  might  become  weakened  by  so  much 
outside  distraction,  He  therefore  built  a  chapel  in  Bourg, 
with  the  intention  of  making  it  the  headquarters  of  the 
devotion.  The  work  immediately  declined;  it  was  not 
until  it  was  placed  again  in  the  hands  of  the  Visitandines 
that  it  took  on  new  life  and  vigor.  It  is  plainly  to  this 
Order  that  the  Sacred  Heart  itself  has  willed  the  aposto- 
late  of  Its  honor. 

"I  think  that  in  heaven  the  Sacred  Heart  will  call  in 
review  before  It  all  the  works  of  this,  His  Institute,  each 
monastery  presenting  to  Its  view  the  part  it  has  taken  in 
the  distribution  of  Its  treasures,  and  that  each  will  re- 
ceive its  own  particular  glory  in  recompense.  But  it 
seems  to  me  that  when  Sister  Marie  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
appears,  with  her  banner  of  the  Guard  of  Honor,  Jesus 
Himself  will  incline  His  Head  to  her,  that  Mary,  His 
Mother,  will  smile  upon  her;  that  Francis  de  Sales,  ad- 
dressing Mother  de  Chantal  and  all  his  Visitation  chil- 
dren, will  say:  'Behold  a  true  daughter  of  the  Visita- 
tion! She  has  raised  immense  armies  of  guard  around 
the  royal  Heart  of  Jesus — blessed  be  she  forever !'  " 
(Father  J.  B.  Lemius,  Mission  of  the  Visitation  Order.) 

Mother  Mary  of  the  Divine  Heart,  a  holy  Good  Shep- 
herd nun  of  Oporto,  in  the  world  Mary  Droste  zu  Visch- 
ering,  of  a  noble  German  Catholic  family,  made  known 
to  Pope  Leo  XIII  in  1898  that  she  had  received  from 
Our  Lord  a  command  that  she  should  tell  him  He  de- 
sired a  formal  consecration  of  the  whole  world,  Christian 
and  pagan,  to  his  Sacred  Heart.  This  was  done  by  Pope 
Leo  on  June  9,  1899,  after  a  solemn  triduum,  held 
throughout  the  world.  He  himself  pronounced  the  words 
of  dedication.  "How  his  voice  trembled,"  says  one  who 
was  present,  "when  he  besought  Christ  Our  Lord,  to  be, 


Consecration  of  World  to  the  Sacred  Heart,   377 

indeed,  the  Supreme  King  of  all  mankind — of  Catholics, 
whether  faithful  or  not,  of  heretics  and  schismatics,  and 
of  the  poor  heathens;  when  he  besought  liberty  for  the 
Church  and  peace  for  nations,  his  soul,  great  as  the 
world  which  he  then  embraced,  seemed  to  overflow  in 
the  ardor  of  its  accents.  The  two  hundred  privileged  wit- 
nesses of  this  sublime  act  did  not  attempt  to  conceal  the 
tears  which  the  touching  scene  drew  from  their  eyes." 
His  concluding  words  were :  "From  pole  to  pole  let  but 
one  voice  resound — Praise  to  the  Divine  Heart  which 
has  given  us  salvation;  to  It  be  honor  and  glory  forever 
and  ever !"  Afterwards  he  said — "This  is  the  greatest  act 
of  my  pontificate !"  He  likewise  sent  a  letter  to  all  the 
bishops  of  the  Church,  urging  them  to  spread  devotion 
to  the  Sacred  Heart  by  every  means  in  their  power.  A 
short  while  before,  receiving  the  Count  and  Countess 
Droste  zu  Vischering,  parents  of  Mother  Mary  of  the 
Divine  Heart,  in  private  audience,  he  said  to  them :  "Tell 
your  daughter  that  the  consecration  to  the  Sacred  Heart 
she  has  asked  of  me  will  be  made  in  every  cathedral  and 
church  of  the  world,  and  tell  her  clearly  that  this  is  in 
consequence  of  what  she  made  known  to  me ;  and  that 
I  expect  from  it  the  greatest  graces  for  the  whole  world." 
Mother  Mary  of  the  Divine  Heart  was  then  at  the  point 
of  death  and  passed  away  shortly  after,  at  the  early  age 
of  thirty-six. 


378  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

ENTHRONEMENT  OF  THE  SACRED  HEART— SOME 
AMERICAN  ASSOCIATIONS— THE  WORDS  OF  POPE 
BENEDICT  XV.,  AND  THE  DECREE  OF  CANONIZA- 
TION OF  SAINT  MARGARET  MARY  ALACOQUE, 
PROFESSED  RELIGIOUS  OF  THE  ORDER  OF  THE 
VISITATION  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY  OF 
THE  DIOCESE  OF  AUTUN. 

tN  the  year  1907,  Father  Matthew  Crawley-Boevey  of 
the  Congregation  of  the  Sacred  Hearts  of  Jesus  and 
Mary,  from  Chili,  though  of  English  birth,  was  kneel- 
ing in  the  chapel  at  Paray-le-Monial,  the  scene  of  the  ap- 
paritions of  Our  Lord  to  Saint  Margaret  Mary.  This 
priest  was,  according  to  the  doctors,  suffering  from  an  in- 
curable disease  of  the  heart.  While  praying  before  the 
tabernacle,  he  suddenly  felt  his  strength  return  to  him, 
and  realized  that  he  was  cured.  At  the  same  moment,  an 
overpowering  desire  seized  upon  him  to  draw  every 
household  in  the  world  to  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  the 
conviction  took  possession  of  him  that  for  this  end  was 
his  vigor  restored  to  him.  A  few  days  later,  he  was  in 
Rome,  kneeling  before  Pope  Pius  X,  begging  his  appro- 
bation and  blessing  for  the  task  he  felt  impelled  to  under- 
take. "I  give  you  no  permission  for  a  work  as  magnifi- 
cent as  this/'  the  Pope  answered  him,  smiling;  "I  com- 
mand you,  instead,  to  devote  yourself  to  it."  Father 
Crawley-Boevey  began  his  mission  without  delay.  The 
spread  of  the  devotion  was  remarkable.  Two  years 
afterward,  Pope  Pius  X  gave  it  his  special  blessing,  and 
to  all  priests  who  should  become  its  apostles.  Ten  years 
after  its  conception,  Father  Crawley-Boevey  writes : 
"The  Enthronement  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus  as  King  has 


Enthronement  of  the  Sacred  Heart.      3  79 

been  made  in  the  palaces  of  kings  and  princes,  in  the 
homes  of  thousands  of  workmen  and  of  the  poor;  it  has 
been  carried  out  in  Parliaments ;  hearth  by  hearth,  amid 
Arctic  snows  and  in  the  centre  of  Africa;  from  the 
archipelagos  of  Oceania  to  the  distant  lands  of  Tibet  and 
China,  and  to  all  the  countries  of  Europe  and  America. 
There  have  been  Enthronements  of  rare  beauty,  per- 
formed in  the  seclusion  of  the  cloister,  in  brilliant  gather- 
ings held  in  the  halls  of  Catholic  clubs ;  Enthronements 
full  of  divine  poetry,  carried  out  in  convent  schools, 
homes  and  orphanages,  hospitals— -even  in  prisons ;  the 
homages  of  bishops  and  priests,  of  shepherds  and  their 
families  to  the  Shepherd-King;  the  leper  settlement  of 
Molokai ;  it  has  penetrated  into  the  Congo,  Ethiopia, 
Alaska  and  the  Fiji  Islands." 

Mother  Mary  Philip  of  the  Bar  Convent,  York,  Eng- 
land, says  in  her  interesting  Life  of  Saint  Margaret 
Mary: 

"We  have  seen  how  the  first  ceremony  of  the  En- 
thronement of  the  Sacred  Heart  took  place  in  the  noviti- 
ate of  the  convent  of  Paray-le-Monial ;  this  present  de- 
votion differs  in  no  way  from  the  devotion  practiced  by 
the  humble  Mistress  of  the  novices  and  her  subjects." 
Cardinal  Billot  writes  in  191 5  to  Father  Crawley-Boevey 
as  follows: 

"The  work  is  the  pure,  simple  and  unalloyed  de- 
votion to  the  Sacred  Heart  handed  down  to  us  in 
the  revelations  of  Blessed  Margaret  Mary.  It  is 
nothing  more,  nothing  less.  To  introduce  or  set  up  in 
the  place  of  honor  in  each  household  a  representation  of 
the  Sacred  Heart,  in  recognition  of  the  supreme  rights 
of  Jesus  Christ  over  the  family  as  a  whole,  and  over  each 
of  its  members ;  to  recite  family  prayers  each  evening 
before  it,  and  to  renew  each  night,  by  the  lips  of  the 
father  or  mother,  the  consecration  made  on  the  first  day ; 
to  be  faithful  to  the  practice  of  Holy  Communion,  and 


3  Bo  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

as  far  as  possible  to  that  of  the  Holy  Hour,  on  the  eve 
of  the  First  Friday  of  the  month;  to  meditate  upon  the 
lessons  and  examples  given  us  by  the  Sacred  Heart ;  to 
have  recourse  to  this  Fount  of  all  graces  in  the  family 
joys  as  well  as  the  family  sorrows,  in  good  and  evil  days, 
in  sufferings,  in  reverses,  in  partings,  amid  the  tears  shed 
at  the  grave  and  the  smiles  bestowed  upon  the  cradle — in 
a  word,  amidst  all  the  events  that  interrupt  the  normal 

and  regular  course  of  the  family  life One  has 

but  to  read  in  the  life  of  Blessed  Margaret  Mary  the  de- 
scription of  the  First  Enthronement,  carried  out  with 

closed  doors  in  the  novitiate if  the  book  of  the 

future  had  been  opened  to  her  at  the  page  entitled  the 
Enthronement  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  in  the  Home, 
she  would  have  recognized  in  it  the  expansion  of  the 
acts  so  delicately  outlined  by  her  little  novices." 

In  January,  191 8,  Pope  Benedict  XV,  put  the  seal  of 
approval  on  the  devotion  of  the  Enthronement  in  these 
forcible  words : 

"If  from  the  canonization  of  Blessed  Margaret  Mary 
there  results  a  more  complete  diffusion  of  the  worship 
of  the  Sacred  Heart,  who  would  not  by  desire  and  deed 
thus  hasten  the  spread  of  so  excellent  a  devotion  as  that 
of  the  Enthronement  of  the  Sacred  Heart  in  families  and 
their  consecration  to  It?  The  dawn  gives  us  an  idea  of 
what  the  midday  will  be  like,  and  we,  who  in  this  praise- 
worthy consecration  of  families  to  the  Sacred  Heart 
recognize  the  dawn  of  that  much-desired  day  when  the 
sovereignty  of  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  acknowledged  on  all 
sides,  repeat  with  confident  joy  the  words  of  St.  Paul : 
Opportet  ilium  regnare — He  must  reign." 

While  the  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  spread  rapidly 
throughout  Europe,  and  numerous  chapels  were  every- 
where erected  in  Its  honor,  there  was,  strange  to  say,  no 
formal  consecration  of  a  church  in  Its  name  for  a  century 
after  the  death  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary.    The  wishes  of 


Some  American  Associations.  381 

Ouf  Lord,  expressed  through  her  medium  to  Louis  XIV, 
that  France  should  raise  a  temple  to  His  Heart;  that 
there  should  be  a  solemn  consecration  of  king,  court  and 
the  whole  nation  to  It,  and  that  Its  image  should  be  placed 
upon  the  standards  of  France  and  engraved  upon  her 
arms,  and  so  be  victorious  over  her  enemies,  were  disre- 
garded. Louis  XV,  in  his  turn,  failed  of  response. 
Marie  Leczinska,  his  amiable  and  long-suffering  wife, 
of  whom  he  was  entirely  unworthy,  became  deeply  inter- 
ested ;  she  obtained  from  the  council  of  the  bishops  of 
France,  assembled  in  Paris  in  1765,  that  the  worship  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  should  be,  "according  to  my  most 
ardent  desire,"  established  in  every  diocese  in  France. 
One  of  her  daughters  embroidered  the  image  of  the 
Heart  of  Jesus  on  a  set  of  splendid  hangings  meant  for 
one  of  the  French  churches ;  Louis'  son,  the  Dauphin, 
raised  a  chapel  at  Versailles  himself  in  Its  honor ;  but  he 
died,  too  early  for  France  and  his  people.  Louis  XVI, 
a  prisoner  in  the  Temple,  remembered  the  Divine  prom- 
ises, and  made  a  vow  to  erect  the  Church  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  when  he  recovered  his  liberty — but  this  was  not 
to  be. 

It  is  claimed  that  this  first  church  was  that  attached 
to  the  Convent  of  Notre  Dame  des  Oiseaux,  in  Paris,  by 
some  French  writers,  but  this  is  incorrect,  as  the  date  of 
this  edifice  is  1837,  a  claim  long  antedated  by  the  dedica- 
tion to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  the  Royal  Basilica  of  Lisbon, 
in  1790,  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Maria  I.  There  is  a 
third  claim,  even  better  substantiated.  To  the  United 
States  of  America  belongs,  beyond  question,  the  honor 
of  having  first  dedicated  a  church  to  the  Sacred  Heart 
of  Jesus,  humble  and  poor  as  was  the  first  altar  of 
Annecy,  and,  like  it,  the  nucleus  of  a  magnificent  develop- 
ment. In  the  little  Pennsylvania  town  of  Conewago,  10 
miles  to  the  southeast  of  the  famous  battlefield  of  Gettys- 
burg, there  still  stands  a  little  wooden  structure,  whose 


382  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

date  is  three  years  earlier  than  that  of  the  Lisbon  basilica. 
Father  James  Pellentz,  a  Jesuit  priest  in  charge  of  the 
mission,  was  its  builder.  The  year  of  its  foundation — 
1787 — is  cut  into  a  stone  inserted  near  the  roof,  and 
below  this  is  an  oblong  slab  of  marble  bearing  a  Heart 
encircled  with  a  crown  of  thorns  and  surmounted  by  a 
cross. 

America  has  still  another  claim  as  a  client  of  the 
Sacred  Heart.  It  is  said  to  contain  at  the  present  time 
more  churches  bearing  the  name  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of 
Jesus  than  any  other  country  on  the  globe.  Three  great 
lamps  hang  in  the  chapel  of  Paray-le-Monial  before  the 
tabernacle  above  which  Our  Lord  appeared  to  Saint 
Margaret  Mary,  and  of  the  three  the  largest  and  most 
beautiful  is  from  our  country.  It  is  of  massive  silver, 
exquisitely  wrought,  and  bears  testimony,  night  and  day, 
of  the  homage  and  devotion  of  America  to  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  Jesus. 

The  Words  of  His  Holiness,  Pope  Benedict  XV  Con- 
cerning the  Canonization  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary. 

"We  thank  the  Lord  for  the  opportunity  afforded  us 
to-day  of  giving  new  proof  of  our  benevolence  towards 
the  French  nation,  of  which  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque  is 
a  shining  glory  and  will  be  a  loving  protector.  Equally 
grateful  to  Him  are  we  for  the  opportunity  of  holding 
up  to  public  esteem  the  Religious  Institute  in  which  the 
spirit  of  St.  Francis  of  Sales  ever  lives  ....  Engraved 
on  our  heart,  beloved  children,  is  the  record  of  the  hope 
that  we  expressed  on  the  day  of  the  publication  of  the 
Decree  on  the  two  miracles  attributed  to  the  intercession 
of  Blessed  Alacoque.  On  that  memorable  occasion  there 
rose  to  our  lips,  spontaneously,  because  it  was  formed  in 
our  heart,  the  hope  that  the  solemn  recognition  of  the 
prodigies  wrought  by  God  at  the  intercession  of  Marga- 


The  Words  of  Pope  Benedict  XV.         383 

ret  Mary  Alacoque  might  serve  to  spread  ever  more  the 
devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  because  the  pious 
daughter  of  St.  Francis  of  Sales  received  from  Jesus 
Christ  Himself  the  mission  of  making  known  the  riches 
of  His  Divine  Heart  that  men  might  come  to  Him  as  a 
Fount  of  graces  and  a  model  of  virtue.  We  should 
praise  God  that  there  is  such  evident  connection  between 
the  prodigies  attributed  to  Blessed  Alacoque  and  the  devo- 
tion to  the  Sacred  Heart  that  there  followed  from  that, 
universal  agreement  on  the  necessity  of  helping  in  every 
way  the  apostolate  of  the  pious  virgin  of  Paray-le-Monial. 
It  gives  us  special  pleasure  to  be  able  thus  to  bear  witness 
publicly  to  our  satisfaction  in  hearing  of  the  further  de- 
velopment of  the  work  of  the  consecration  of  families  to 
the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus.  In  the  sadness  in  which  our 
pontificate  must  go  on,  as  it  was  born,  more  and  more 
does  the  Lord  make  us  feel  His  hand — of  a  father,  and 
we  wish  that  all  the  members  of  the  Christian  family  may 
praise  and  thank  Him  for  it. 

"But  to-day's  Decree,  which  brings  to  its  conclusion  the 
Cause  of  the  Canonization  of  Blessed  Alacoque  is  far 
more  eloquent  than  that  on  the  miracles.  To-day,  too, 
we  must  turn  our  ear  and  hear  the  word  of  God,  Who 
shall  determine  if  and  when  the  humble  inmate  of  the 
cloister  of  Paray-le-Monial  shall  be  raised  to  the  honor 
of  the  altars.  Nevertheless,  the  historian  may  say  that 
to-day  her  story  is  completed;  the  theologian  and  the 
canonist  have  carried  their  researches  and  examinations 
to  the  full  length ;  in  the  hands  of  even  the  most  critical 
the  arms  are  broken  and  not  even  any  outside  circum- 
stance hinders  the  sentence,  that  now  it  is  possible  to  go 
on  with  security  to  the  Canonization  of  Margaret  Mary 
Alacoque.  So  this  happy  event  may  be  greeted  as  immi- 
nent by  those,  too,  who  do  not  allow  themselves  to  be 
guided  by  a  too  warm  imagination.  But  does  not  he  who 
knows  that  he  is  close  to  his  goal  hasten  and  move  more 


384  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

quickly  ?  So  should  all  those  devoted  to  Blessed  Alacoque 
hasten  and  perfect  themselves  in  the  devotion  to  the 
Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  in  proportion  to  their  present  hope 
for  the  approach  of  the  Canonization  of  the  heroine,  the 
efficacy  of  whose  apostolate  has  grown  ever  since  the  day 
of  the  approval  of  the  miracles  attributed  to  her ;  indeed 
by  the  means  of  that  approval. 

"We  said  on  another  occasion  that  all  the  faithful 
should  help  forward  that  apostolate  by  welcoming  and 
making  their  own  all  the  holy  activities  suggested  by 
devotion  towards  the  Divine  Heart  of  the  Savior  .... 
May  the  blessing  of  God  descend  copiously  on  France, 
cradle  of  Blessed  Alacoque,  and  bring  about  that  from  the 
place  whence  came  the  first  ray  of  devotion  to  the  Sa- 
cred Heart  may  come  ever  the  example  of  constancy  and 
fervor  in  this  beautiful  devotion,  to  rejoice  not  only  the 
Salesian  cloisters,  but  the  entire  Christian  family." 
(February  6,  1918.) 

The  Canonization  of  Blessed  Margaret  Mary,  owing  to 
the  war  raging  at  the  time  of  these  words,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  defer  awhile  longer;  but  on  May  13,  1920, 
Feast  of  the  Ascension,  the  Apostle  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
of  Jesus  received  the  honors  of  the  Church,  under  the 
name  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

Translation  of  Decree  of  Canonization  of  Blessed  Mar- 
garet Mary  Alacoque,  Virgin,  Professed  Religious  of 
the  order  of  the  Visitation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
of  the  Diocese  of  Autun,  in  response  to  the  question: 
What  is  to  be  thought  of  the  miracles  wrought  after 
her  Beatification  and  of  the  evidence  for  them,  both  in 
the  event  and  afterwards? 

Amid  the  social  disorder,  bloodshed  and  fratricidal 
strife  of  the  time,  we  can  easily  imagine  the  overwhelming 


Decree  of  Her  Canonization.  385 

joy  which  filled  the  hearts  of  all  loving  children  of  Holy 
Church,  when  the  announcement  was  made  that  the  cause 
of  the  Canonization  of  Blessed  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque 
had  been  brought  to  the  long-desired  issue.  Anyone  who 
considers,  even  for  a  moment,  the  intimate  connection 
between  Blessed  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque  and  the  devo- 
tion to  the  Sacred  Heart,  must  instantly  recognize  that 
this  happy  event  will  bring  about  a  great  increase  in  that 
devotion,  ever  peculiarly  appealing  to  man's  heart,  ever 
most  rich  in  good,  never  more  needed  than  now. 

For  men  today,  more  perhaps  than  ever  before,  are 
prone  to  forget,  if  they  do  not  indeed  openly  ridicule,  any 
detail  of  life  which  transcends  the  natural  order;  an 
attitude  of  mind  which  grows  daily  worse.  As  a  natural 
result  of  the  lust  for  wealth  and  power  which  long  since 
displaced  the  pursuit  of  the  higher  things  of  life,  man- 
kind utterly  forgot  God,  and  hence  were  sowed  the  seeds 
of  that  mutual  hatred  in  which  nation  has  risen  against 
nation  and  kingdom  against  kingdom.  But  even  while 
this  world  war  rages  fiercely,  a  divine  voice  has  spoken, 
has  spoken  all  the  clearer  for  the  tumult  through  which 
it  must  be  heard :  "I  have  come  to  cast  fire  upon  the 
earth,  and  what  will  I  but  that  it  be  enkindled,"  (Luke, 
XII,  49)  the  voice  of  our  Lord  Himself,  opposing  to  the 
devouring  flames  of  unbridled  human  passion  the  fire  of 
divine  charity,  recalling  men  to  the  sweet  concord  of 
brotherly  love,  and  proposing  Himself  as  their  divine 
model.  "Learn  of  Me  because  I  am  meek  and  humble  of 
heart,  and  you  shall  find  rest  for  your  souls."  (Matt. 
XI,  29). 

Nothing,  clearly,  can  so  readily  conduce  to  the  reali- 
zation of  this  ideal  as  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart.  Once 
before,  the  love  of  God  had  waned  in  many  hearts 
through  the  spread  of  Jansenism,  which  portrayed  the 
Divine  Majesty  as  unconcerned  with  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind; then  did  the  all-merciful  God,  in  accordance  with 


386  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

His  promise  never  to  fail  His  Church  in  her  hour  of 
need,  a  promise  so  wondrously  fulfilled  throughout  the 
ages,  once  more  supply  a  sovereign  remedy  for  the  pe- 
culiar needs  of  the  age,  by  disclosing  the  infinite  treasures 
of  His  singular  love  for  man,  making  the  visible  symbol 
thereof  the  most  Sacred  Heart  of  Christ,  which,  from 
the  Incarnation  to  Calvary,  had  given  numberless  un- 
mistakable proofs  of  the  ardent  love  for  souls  by  which 
It  was  consumed. 

In  regard  to  the  form  in  which  devotion  to  the  Sacred 
Heart  was  to  be  practiced,  the  part  played  by  Sister  Mar- 
garet Mary  Alacoque  is  known  to  all.  Inspired  by  the 
Heavenly  vision,  she  well  understood  the  importance  of 
the  work  given  to  her  to  do,  and  devoted  to  it  all  the 
energy  of  her  being,  under  the  wise  direction  of  the 
Venerable  Servant  of  God,  Claude  de  la  Colombiere. 
Not  only  did  he  witness  and  bear  testimony  to  the  sanc- 
tity of  his  daughter  in  Christ,  but  emulated  it  to  such  a 
degree  that  the  virtues  of  the  Venerable  Claude  have 
long  since  been  acknowledged  by  the  solemn  pronounce- 
ment of  the  Holy  See  to  be  heroic.  Throughout  her  life 
Sister  Margaret  Mary  with  ardent  zeal  labored  inces- 
santly to  arouse  in  the  hearts  of  the  faithful  true  love  and 
veneration  for  the  divine  Heart  of  our  Lord  and  Savior ; 
and,  after  her  holy  death,  this  same  great  work  was 
carried  on  no  less  effectively  by  the  cause  of  her  Beati- 
fication which  was  immediately  introduced  in  due  form. 
As  was  only  to  be  expected,  the  strength  of  her  cause  kept 
equal  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  devotion  to  the  Sacred 
Heart ;  together  they  met  and  conquered  opposition,  until, 
in  1864,  her  cause  having  been  crowned  by  the  solemn 
rites  of  Beatification,  and  the  feast  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
raised  to  a  double  of  the  first  class  for  the  universal 
church,  this  devotion,  so  consoling  to  humanity,  spread 
far  and  wide  in  a  manner  truly  miraculous.  And  as  ex- 
perience soon  proved  how  eminently  profitable  and  fruit- 


Decree  of  Her  Canonization.  387 

ful  this  devotion  was  for  the  whole  church,  the  cause  of 
her  Canonization,  introduced  within  two  years  after  her 
Beatification,  was  greatly  fostered,  and,  with  several 
Bishops  taking  the  lead,  earnest  prayers  and  petitions 
were  presented  to  the  Holy  See  that  it  might  be  brought 
to  a  happy  conclusion.  God  Himself  deigned  to  put  the 
seal  of  His  approval  upon  these  pious  desires  by  various 
signs  and  prodigies,  from  among  which  two  cures  were 
proposed  for  consideration,  and  found,  after  due  investi- 
gation, to  have  been  real  miracles  and  wrought  by  God 
through  the  intercession  of  the  Blessed  Margaret  Mary 
Alacoque. 

The  evidence  was  discussed  first  in  an  introductory 
meeting,  then  on  two  separate  occasions  in  subsequent 
preliminary  meeting,  and,  finally,  on  the  fourth  of  last 
December,  in  a  general  meeting,  held  in  the  presence  of 
our  Most  Holy  Father,  Pope  Benedict  XV,  in  which  His 
Eminence  Cardinal  Vico,  the  Promoter  of  the  cause, 
introduced  the  following  question  for  deliberation : 
"What  is  to  be  thought  of  the  miracles  wrought  after  her 
Beatification  and  of  the  evidence  for  them,  both  in  the 
event  and  afterwards?"  Their  Eminences  the  Cardinals, 
and  the  Reverend  Consultors,  then  expressed  their  opin- 
ions, which  were  carefully  considered  by  the  Holy  Father. 
He,  however,  according  to  custom,  postponed  his  final 
decision,  asking  those  present  to  offer  meanwhile  their 
earnest  prayers  to  God. 

Today,  however,  a  most  auspicious  day  as  that  on 
which  the  three  Wise  Men  came  to  adore  the  Infant 
Savior,  after  devoutly  celebrating  the  Sacred  Mysteries, 
he  summoned  to  the  Vatican  His  Eminence  Cardinal 
Antonio  Vico,  Bishop  of  Porto  and  Santa  Rufina,  Pro- 
Prefect  of  the  Sacred  Congregation  of  Rites,  and  Pro- 
moter of  the  cause,  together  with  Reverend  Angelo  Mari- 
ani,  Promoter  of  the  Faith,  and  myself,  the  undersigned 
secretary,  and,  in  our  presence,  solemnly  declared  that 


388  Life  of  Saint  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque. 

each  of  the  proposed  cures  were  true  miracles :  the  first, 
the  instantaneous  and  complete  cure  of  Aloysia  Agostini 
Coleschi  of  chronic  inflammation  of  the  spinal  chord  in 
the  region  of  the  loins,  the  other,  the  instantaneous  and 
complete  cure  of  the  Countess  Antonio  Astorri  of  Pavesi 
of  a  cancer  in  the  right  breast. 

This  Decree  is  declared  of  public  record  and  inscribed 
in  the  "Acta"  of  the  Sacred  Congregation  of  Rites,  Jan- 
uary 6th,   191 8. 

Antonio  Cardinal  Vico,  Pro-  Pref. 
Alexander  Verde,  Sec. 


PRINTED   BY    BBJNZIflER    BROTHERS,    NEW    YORK.